Re: Questions about Page Numbering Style

[John Posada <jposada -at- NOTES -dot- CC -dot- BELLCORE -dot- COM>]

Dan...

I do proposals ands use the folio method of page numbering.

The advantage, over all other advantages (and disadvantages) is this.

As a document evolves, changes are done to the document.  At the last minute,
changes will come in.  By doing folio numbering, the changes to a page within a
section only affect the page numbering of that section and when re-printing,
you only have to deal with that section.  Serial would affect the page number
right to the end instead of maybe only 5, 10 or 15 pages.

John Posada
- Central New Jersey Employment Manager
Society for Technical Communication
http://stc.org/region2/njc/

- Technical Proposal Writer
Bell Communications Research
(908) 699-5839 (W)
jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com

"Its wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago"
        - Vice President Dan Quayle, 4/30/91
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Subject: Questions about Page Numbering Style

     I'm hoping some of you can provide some input on this usability
     question.

     Writers in our group disagree about whether to switch from folio page
     numbering to sequential page numbering.  Is anyone aware of research
     that supports one page-numbering style over the other.

     By folio page numbering, I mean that Chapter 1 starts on page 1-1 and
     continues to page 1-30; Chapter 2 starts on page 2-1 and ends on page
     2-34; and so on.

     By sequential numbering, I mean that Chapter 1 starts on page 1 and
     continues to page 30; Chapter 2 starts on page 31 and continues to
     page 65; and so on.

     Because we already use folio-numbering in our books, I think it makes
     sense to maintain that style.  Changing our numbering style might
     confuse customers (albeit briefly), and the possible usability payoff
     of sequential numbering is not worth the confusion.

     On the other hand, those who advocate the sequential numbering style
     say that the usability payoff is worth any initial confusion the
     customer might have.  For example, when looking up a topic in the
     index, the user will find it easier to process and locate a sequential
     page number rather than a folio number.

     Our next step is to check with some of our customers to see if this is
     something they even care about.  Some say they won't even notice a
     change like this.  But, in the meantime, I hope that any of you with
     information on this subject will respond.

     Please send your responses to me directly, as I don't subscribe to
     this list.  I'll summarize the responses and post them on the list.
     Thanks.


     Joanne Saathoff
     joanne_saathoff -at- bmc -dot- com
     BMC Software, Inc.
     Austin, Texas

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