RE: Paragraph numbering - industry standard?

[eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com]

bounce-techwr-l-106467 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com wrote on 08/03/2005 02:45:25 PM:
> Again, I don't see the point.

Know what? Firstly, as a technical writer it's not really our place to 
"see the point". We have to give the customer/audience what they want.

What I find really ridiculous in these oft repeated rants against 
paragraph numbering is that it is being done on the basis of design and 
not communication/utility. Additionally, the griping is being done in an 
age where adding the numbering is child's play once a template is set up.

If there is going to be ANY discussion about a document, numbering is 
ESSENTIAL. It is precise and easy to enter in minutes of meetings.

If the document is going to be produced in many formats, identical 
numbering in each format will provide a definite link between the two.

And if the document is ever printed, numbering gives the user quick access 
to all information in the document without having to always go to an index 
or remember page numbers. And an index instead? ROTFL! If you can't be 
bothered to put the TINY effort into numbering the doc, what are the 
chance the effort will be expended to index properly?

If the numbering also has technical meaning, it is also invaluable in 
quickly navigating to relevant sections. Even without technical meaning, 
it quickly identifies a paragraphs relationship to other sections. If 
similar subjects are consistently broken into the same structure, finding 
specific information about a new subject is as simple as scanning for the 
numbering.

Even in the absence of consistent structure or technical meaning numbering 
can be invaluable. The difference between 1.2.1 and 1.2.2.1 is obvious. In 
an unnumbered document, slight changes in heading size and a variation in 
layout is not necessarily obvious.

So, some think numbering is "ugly" and a hold over. I think unnumbered 
docs are unwieldy to use and produced by people putting style over 
substance, too lazy or incompetent to number, or who don't want their 
organisational failures to be made clear by numbering.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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