Re: Bulleted lists... Is there a limit?

[Jane Bergen <janeber -at- CYBERRAMP -dot- NET>]

At 12:36 PM 7/25/97 EST, DWeber wrote:
>     What is the maximum amount of items acceptable in a bulleted list? Is
>     there a definite answer?  My interviewer thought so.
>
>
>     Di

The rule of thumb is seven, plus or minus two items in a list. This number
is based upon the ability of readers to store items in short-term memory.
Most technical writing texts hammer away on this, but a recent....and most
excellent..... book that discusses it is "Human Factors for Technical
Communicators" by Marlana Coe.

It's really important to know WHY to do something as well as WHAT to do in
order to make good decisions. Recently there have been several good books
published that go into these sometimes boring/sometimes fascinating
discussions. Another good book is "Dynamics in Document Design" by Karen
Schriver.

Hope that helps.

Jane Bergen

---------------------------------
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer
AnswerSoft, Inc.    Dallas, TX
janeber -at- cyberramp -dot- net
---------------------------------

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