Punctuation in vertical lists?

[Jennifer Masek <jmasek -at- SLAC -dot- STANFORD -dot- EDU>]

Hi folks,
We're having some rather heated discussions around here regarding the
appropriate punctuation for various sorts of vertical lists in technical
manuals and procedures. We have prowled our way through Chicago, Judd,
Horton, GPO, etc. (*Many* etcs) I thought I'd ask the collective wisdom of
the techwr-lers and see if I could get a feel for the trends.

We're looking most especially at: (colon here or not?)

   * Bullet lists (period here? semicolon? Caps on initial word?)
   * Unmarked vertical lists such as (colon here or not?)
         dogs (capped or not?) (periods or not?)
         cats
         oxen
    *Terminations of bullet lists (Period here?)

Are unmarked lists only being used for examples (a la Chicago's infinite
example sets) or can one use them to complete a phrase?
            Before leaving your campsite, please check to see that you
            are not leaving behind any
                   belongings
                   trash
                   children

Thanks for your opinions and pointers
Cheers,
Jennifer





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Jennifer Masek

Information and Document Technology Group
Technical Publications Department
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
926-2263

      http://www.slac.stanford.edu/grp/techpubs/home.html


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