Re: Are there any industry standards for writing product dimensions (width, height, depth) ??

[Shawn <shawn -at- cohodata -dot- com>]

>I mentioned to my manager that I'd like to come up with a consistent
method for listing dimensions. He said "fine, but whichever order you
choose, I'd like to hear your justification."

Yikes! It is times like this that I feel fortunate not to have ever worked
for someone this unreasonable (or over-reaching).

Although consistency is very important... which order is chosen is
unimportant and justifying that order is just plain ridiculous!

My company builds SDN storage systems and the first spec sheet I designed,
listed dimensions as W x H x D - with bracketed metric values for each
dimension. With my most recent version, I present the dimensions as
annotations on images of our products. Annotations might be your answer!
You can justify this method by stating it offers a non-language specific
representation of the product's dimensions.

To lend credibility to my post, I analyzed a few specifications sheets for
you:


*LG External Blu-ray Disc Rewriter - DIMENSIONS (W x H x D) 6.1" x 0.8" x
6.5" (156 x 21.4 x 165.20 mm)2GIG-CNTRL2-345 - dimensions annotated in an
illustration*

*Dell EqualLogic ps5000e - Height: , Width:, Depth: , Weight:*
*EMC Avamar Data Store - Height, Width, Depth, Weight*

*Nexsan storage - Dimensions - Width 16.93 inches / 43.00 cm, Dimensions â
Height 3.9 inches / 8.81 cm (2U) 7 inches / 17.78 cm. (4U), Dimensions â
Depth*



*Eversync Data Protection - Width, Depth, Height HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage
- Dimensions (H x W x D) 5.19 x 17.64 x 34.01 in (13.18 x 44.80 x 86.38
cm)WD Caviar Green - Height (in./mm, max) 1.028/26.1   Length (in./mm, max)
5.787/147  Width (in./mm, Â .01 in.) 4/101.6  Weight (lb./kg, Â 10%)ZED PC
ZDT5J3 - Dimensions â 15X12.5X4.5 cm â 6X5X1.8 inch *

As you can see, there are many ways to present this information. The most
important goal is to present this information in a consistent and
understandable fashion.

Best regards and Happy Thanksgiving!


On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 3:43 PM, James Witkin <jameswitkin -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

> In my current job, I write and maintain a lot of product specifications.
> The previous tech writer followed no consistent method in how he ordered
> these dimensions. Some are arranged as width x height x depth. Some as
> height x depth x width. You get the idea.
>
> I mentioned to my manager that I'd like to come up with a consistent method
> for listing dimensions. He said "fine, but whichever order you choose, I'd
> like to hear your justification."
>
> Are there any industry standards for how to list dimensions? Is width or
> height always listed first?  If there are standards, what is the thinking
> behind choosing one arrangement over another.
>
> PS. whichever way you celebrate it, have a wide, tall and deep
> Thanksgiving!
>
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-- 
*Shawn Connelly*
Technical writer
  <shawn -at- cohodata -dot- com>

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