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Subject:Re: Ampersands in TOC and headers? From:Mike Starr <mike -at- writestarr -dot- com> To:'techwr-l List' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:15:19 -0600
I avoid ampersands. One issue I stumbled into on my most recent contract assignment was that ampersands in link text caused problems with the web tool we were using. So if your content is ever going to be ported to some sort of web-enabled application ampersands might end up biting you.
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Leonard C. Porrello wrote:
> I am responsible for style, so whatever I say pretty much goes. This
> isn't to say that style is capricious. It just means that we define what
> styles we'll use based on what best fits what we are communicating. The
> thing I want to avoid is taking license in a way that could offend a
> significant number of readers. For example, I could see reasons for
> using a initial cap after a semi-colon, but I wouldn't do so as some
> people would think it was done out of ignorance. It seems to me that my
> use of ampersands, on the other hand, could go either way.
>
> Leonard
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Swallow [mailto:techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 8:47 AM
> To: Leonard C. Porrello
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Ampersands in TOC and headers?
>
> I dunno. What does the style you're using dictate? What does your
> style guide say?
>
> On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 11:41 AM, Leonard C. Porrello
> <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- soleratec -dot- com> wrote:
>> My docs feature some relatively long, task oriented titles. To
> minimize
>> the length of TOC entries, I've used ampersands in the way they are
> used
>> in newspaper headlines.
>>
>> Is this problematic from a style perspective?
>
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