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Subject:Re: Headers and Footers From:Dave Whelan <dwhelan -at- PANGEA -dot- CA> Date:Mon, 2 Feb 1998 14:40:31 -0600
Barb asked about header and footer formats.
For the series of manuals I am doing at the moment, I put the chapter title
in the header outside corners, sequential page number in the footer outside
corners, document and rev number at the footer left inside corner and the
file name of the document on the footer right inside corner.
I use this format because:
1. My readers find contiguous page numbering easier to use than section
page numbering and chapter names easier to use than section numbers.
2. If readers call my client with a query, I want them to have all the
relevant details about the manual in front of them on the same page.
3. There are many manuals in this series all describing similar products
with small but significant differences. I wanted review SMEs, users, and
in-house applications engineers to be able to differentiate between
products easily, without having to turn pages. I include the document
number because my client wants me to, but these numbers are only simple
part numbers: they serve the purposes of inventory control but they are not
particularly descriptive. I get to choose the document's file name so, as I
do not have to conform to 8.3 characters, I make it as descriptive as the
book title.
4. As I include the revision number in the document number space, I only
include the date of publication in the footer of a front matter page with
the copyright notice, and on the title page.
Regards,
Dave.
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Dave Whelan, Technical Writer
Whelan Technical Services (204) 334-1339 mailto:dwhelan -at- pangea -dot- ca http://www.pangea.ca/~dwhelan
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