Re. Tell them (only?) once

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

     Most of what I've read on "telling something only once" suggests that
     this is the wrong way to go. Needless redundancy doesn't help either,
     which complicates things somewhat. But it seems to me that good
     writing always starts from what is known (context) or establishes this
     context for the reader; thereafter, you introduce what is new.
     Repetition can be (but need not be) gross and obvious; it can also be
     subtle. Two suggestions:
     1. If the material really requires specific, non-general knowledge (as
     in a sequence of tutorials), add a "where we've been and where we're
     going" or "what you need to know to use this lesson" section up at the
     top, as a sort of introduction.
     2. Provide a list of related topics instead of repeating the
     information. The PageMaker manuals do this very well (if I'm
     remembering the right docs). You can set this efficiently as a sidebar
     right at the top of the lesson. This serves two purposes: it provides
     a quick visual summary of what the reader should understand before
     proceeding, and it says where to go to get this information.

     --Geoff Hart  #8^{)}