STYLE Re: SECTIONS/CHAPTERS

[Kat Nagel/MasterWork <katnagel -at- EZNET -dot- NET>]

Barb Ridley asked:
>     Are sections and chapters always needed, or should I just put
>     tasks as main headings?

>     Is it enough to just list the tasks in a table of contents and
>     have one long continuous piece of documentation.

As a user, I prefer some kind of organization, not just a list of tasks.
Ideally, the system itself will impose some logical order to the tasks:

Setup  (task set)
Normal operation 1 (task set)
Normal operation 2 (task set)
Shutdown  (task set)
Maintenance  (task set)
Troubleshooting  (task set)

or (possibility for production scheduling software)

Installation  (task set)
Scheduling for a single product or machine (task set)
Scheduling for multiple units  (task set)
Error codes and troubleshooting (task set)
Printing reports and summaries (task set)
etc.

Can you talk to the folks who will actually do the scheduling using your
product? If so, ask them what groupings seem logical to them, what
processes naturally flow into others.



@Kat _______________________________ katnagel -at- eznet -dot- net
Kat Nagel      MasterWork Consulting Services, Rochester, NY
Technical writing / Editing / Document design

"The danger of technology is that it demands to be fed."
Sherry Turkle (cyberpsychologist), in _Life in the screen_

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