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Subject:Re: departing from a template From:David Brown <dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 16 Apr 2002 13:21:15 -0700
Ellen Vanrenen wrote:
>
> Is it usual to consider a template the only way to create documents
> of the same type, allowing the documentor no freedom depending on the
> individual document?
I don't know about the rest of the list, but I couldn't work under such an inflexible constraint.
Different books inevitably have "special needs" that aren't addressed in a department-wide template. If you incorporate every minor variation of every paragraph style in a single template, the style list quickly becomes unusable (I suffered through that for several years at a former job, where there were around a hundred paragraph styles, including dozens of variations for body text--agh!--never again). At the other end of the spectrum, you'd need a different template for each document, which defeats the purpose of the template.
Given a consistent style across documents (which the existing template gives you), internal consistency is more important in the handling of any special cases that arise.
I don't recommend, however, that variances be introduced simply to satisfy the artistic whim of the writer--they should address legitimate needs of the document.
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