"the following" or nothing -- what is IM's preference? (was:"Next" or "the following"... )

[Jane Credland]

Quoting Al Geist <al.geist at geistassociates.com>:

> That may be true, but I agree with "following" versus below or next,
> and if the cross-referenced material does not follow, then it should be
> cross-referenced to a bookmark, figure, or section heading for clarity.
>  If nothing else, it saves the user/reader/viewer from rummaging around
> the document to find out how much earlier or later the material being
> referenced can be found.

I agree with Al.

Another potential issue with using above/below/next comes when the  
documentation is translated. We translate into 11 languages currently,  
and that really impacts our word choice. Above/below/next may be  
accepted non-spatial use in English, but that's not necessarily the  
case in other cultures or languages.

We avoid "following" wherever possible. If the procedures directly  
follow a title, then we don't have a stem sentence. I saw an example  
of that in an earlier post.

And if the "following" or "below" item occurs in another section, then  
we use a cross-reference instead of expecting the reader/user/viewer  
to go chasing through the subsequent text/topics to find the  
appropriate item.

Jane