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RE: numbering chapter, section and susbsection headings
Subject:RE: numbering chapter, section and susbsection headings From:LDurway -at- pav -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:10:57 -0600
> But the bottom line is, ANYTHING that helps readers FIND the
> information
> they want is a good thing.
In general, I agree with you, but I'm going to toss out a counterpoint
anyway.
One of my users opened my eyes to a different point of view earlier this
year. A reviewer, who is also a user of the product, hated all my cross
refs. He used the index & TOC to locate things and felt he didn't need most
of my xrefs. My initial reaction was to ignore this nabob (who constantly
referred to the TOC as the index), but then I realized that I could probably
learn a lot from him. So I took his comments to heart (my favorite:
"Brevity! Brevity! Brevity!"), and I removed a lot of x-refs that pointed to
chapters, particularly in the overview. The result was a cleaner, smoother
overview.
Now when I get the urge to add an x-ref, I ask myself, how likely is it that
they'll want to flip to the referenced page? Is it a topic they can just as
easily find using the TOC or index? So I'm trying to apply a sort of 80/20
rule rather than overloading docs with redundant navigation paths all over
the place. I think my books are a little easier to read as a result--not so
many (for more info see "configuring your framitz" on page 5-4)
interruptions. The result is smoother reading & thus a simpler manual.
Lindsey
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