Cross-referencing vs hyperlinking in Word

[Jean Weber <jhweber -at- WHITSUNDAY -dot- NET -dot- AU>]

To answer the _other_ question in Pamela Jasper's <JISCorp -at- Aol -dot- com> note,

>Also (and unrelated), does any one have a preference for using
>cross-referencing in MS-Word vs. hyperlinking with a bookmark, and if so,
>why? When would you use cross referencing vs vanilla hyperlinks?

For me, it depends on whether the document is going to be printed or used
online.

If the document is going to be printed, the hyperlinks are irrelevant to
the reader (unless you have them formatted to print to look like a link).
However, hyperlinks can be both helpful and intensely irritating to the
author and editor when working on the file: helpful because if you're
trying to track down something elsewhere in the file, you can use the link
to jump right to it; irritating because that (jumping) may happen when
that's not what you want to do -- if you're not careful when you're trying
to select the link.

If the document is going to be used online, or converted to HTML or some
other online form, then having the internal hyperlinks already there can be
helpful (though some, perhaps most, conversion tools will turn cross-refs
into hyperlinks anyway).

I've only recently started writing and editing material containing live
hyperlinks. At first I loathed them (because of the tendency to jump me
somewhere when I didn't want to), but now that I'm getting used to working
with them, it's no longer a problem and I'm beginning to find them quite
useful.

As usual, YMMV.

Regards, Jean
Jean Hollis Weber
The Technical Editors' Eyrie  http://www.wrevenge.com.au/
mailto:jhweber -at- whitsunday -dot- net -dot- au


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