RE: Internal Chapter TOCs

Subject: RE: Internal Chapter TOCs
From: "Gordon McLean" <Gordon -dot- McLean -at- GrahamTechnology -dot- com>
To: <TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:29:17 +0100

As a side effect of switching to AuthorIT we 'gained' these and they went
down a storm. Particularly in the midst of long developer guides.

You know what they say, you can never have too many navigation methods.

That and "know your users" of course ;-)

Is it Friday yet?

Gordon

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Nancy Allison
Sent: 20 April 2007 15:48
To: TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Internal Chapter TOCs

Hi, everyone.

I'm working on an installation manual that contains many small procedures.
I've grouped these procedures where it made logical sense to do so, but
there are still many of them. As a result, each chapter ends up with a lot
of level 1 headings.

For the rest of the documentation set for this product, I've started each
chapter with a 1- or 2-sentence summary of the scope, and then said, "This
chapter contains the following sections" and provided a bulleted list of the
level 1 headings. Most chapters have had 4 to 6 headings, so the list has
been a succinct way to provide a clearer picture of the chapter's scope.

But the chapters in this doc contain many, many small procedures, even after
they've been grouped logically. The bulleted lists can contain 10 or 12
entries. It does not make sense to chop the chapters in half, either, just
so that each new chapter can contain 5 or 6 bulleted list items. (Many of
the chapters are dedicated to installing the product on a particular
e-commerce platform. One chapter per platform. Works well, except for this
silly problem.)

I'm thinking I could go either way:

1. Eliminate the list. It's too long to be useful. Or, 2. Create a real
internal TOC, with page numbers and leader dots. Since this is the most
technical guide of the doc set, it makes sense that it would be formatted in
a more formal way.

I'm leaning toward #2. I do think that these internal lists at the start of
a chapter contribute something useful . . . but I'm willing to be persuaded
otherwise, or bowled over by a solution I haven't even considered.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks.

--Nancy
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References:
Internal Chapter TOCs: From: Nancy Allison

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