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Subject:Re: Google Doc in Comic Book Form From:jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:29:27 -0400
Looking closely, I see that the comic is divided into topic sections (indicated by tabs at the top of pages 1, 3, 12, 18, 25 and 34). If you blink you can easily miss this structure (I did the first time through the book). The tabs are not linked or assembled into a TOC anywhere, but the structure is there.
The following links to a blog post has a link to the comic book uploaded in a form that allows linking directly to each page by number instead of just using back and next:
Although the tabs do not constitute a "browseable TOC", I find it interesting that it's almost there. As we tech writers should know, "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."
Jim Shaeffer
-----Original Message-----
From: Janet Swisher <jmswisher -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Sent: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 2:30 pm
Subject: Re: Google Doc in Comic Book Form
On 9/2/08, jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com <jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com> wrote:
>
> I would agree with your
> critique, if I thought that the comic was meant to serve as a user
> guide or reference manual. Since I see its genre as more executive
> summary or white paper, it seems to do a good job. (A comic book as a
> format for white papers is certainly intriguing.)
That's how it was received on a developer-oriented mailing list I'm
on: "a very cool alternative to writing white papers"
Even as a white paper, it would be helpful to have a browseable TOC
instead of just page numbers. That way readers could jump to the
topics that most interested them, instead of having to read through
everything to find them.
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