RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question

["Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>]

On a similar note, what do people think about chapter headings being slightly different from their corresponding TOC entry? For example, would it be OK to have the following in the TOC:

Time Cards
	Understanding
 	Creating
 	Viewing
 	Finding

And then have the following chapter headers:

Understanding Time Cards
Creating Time Cards
Viewing Time Cards
Finding Time Cards

???

Leonard

-----Original Message-----
From: kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com [mailto:kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:15 PM
To: Leonard C. Porrello
Cc: Robert Lauriston; TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; Robert Courtney
Subject: RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question


I think it's a fine idea to list the thing that is being created,
viewed, etc. for each heading. I've seen indexes with 6 or more
instances of "create," etc. I suppose if you're certain your index will
never do that, it would be ok to leave the topic off, but ...

Kathleen

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question
> From: "Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>
> Date: Tue, October 27, 2009 3:03 pm
> To: "Robert Lauriston" <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>,
> <TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, "Robert Courtney" <bobsc1 -at- earthlink -dot- net>
> 
> 
> What Lauriston says. Otherwise, the reader has to scan a gazillion instances of "How do I." AND, be careful not to mix verbs and nouns. Some people would say you should use either ...
> 
>   Understanding Time Cards
>   Creating a Time Card
>   Viewing a Time Card
>   Finding a Time Card
> 
> or ...
> 
>   Understand Time Cards
>   Create a Time Card
>   View a Time Card
>   Find a Time Card
> 
> You might also consider the following:
> 
> Time Cards
> 	Understanding
> 	Creating
> 	Viewing
> 	Finding
> 
> 
> Leonard
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
> Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:12 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question
> 
> I prefer to put the relevant verb first:
> 
> Time Cards
>   Understanding Time Cards
>   Create a Time Card
>   View a Time Card
>   Find a Time Card
> 
> On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Robert Courtney <bobsc1 -at- earthlink -dot- net> wrote:
> > I have usually used questions in my help files on how to do things. I
> > use sentence headings for some things such as objects that I need to
> > discuss. Such as:
> >
> > Time Cards
> >    What is a Time Card?
> >    How do I Create Time Card?
> >    How do I View A Time Card?
> >    How do I Search a Time Card?
> >
> > VS
> >
> > Time Cards
> >    What is a Time Card?
> >    Creating a Time Card
> >    Viewing a Time Card
> >    Searching a Time Card
> >
> > Is there really a preference to using a sentence TOC and headings vs
> > questions to accomplish tasks?
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
> 
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
> 
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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