How many levels of indents and heads are reasonable?

[Butler, Darren J Ctr 584 CBSS/GBHAC]

Krista Van Laan wondering about:  Current thinking on heading levels.
Can it all be done with 4 levels, or do we need 6 or more?

 

The general rule for most military documents is a primary heading with
no more than 4 subordinates. The philosophy is this; if the information
is well-organized, you shouldn't need a 5th level. This forces the
author to either combine similar sub-chunks of data into a higher
heading or create an additional category/heading that would hold all of
the sub-chunk headings. This especially applies to procedural
information and other instances where a flow of thought is critical. 

It can be frustrating, but dicing things up too much can quickly produce
reader fatigue or even insult the reader's intelligence. IMHO - when
topics drill down below the 5th level heading, important information may
be ignored because it appears to be minutia - because it often *is*
minutia.

 

In most cases, I've been able to figure-out how to "get it said" in 4
levels or less. A 5th level would definitely come in handy many times,
but I don't have that luxury. Typically, when I am considering a
4th-level subheading, I take a moment and review my outline to see if it
needs tweaking. This may lead me to create another sub3 or higher, a
primary, or sometimes a whole other chapter. 

 

Basically, I try to stack-up all my pennies, see if they equal  25
cents, then trade them for a quarter.

 

Blessings,

Darren

****************************************

Darren J. Butler

Sr. Technical Writer-Editor, Template Wrangler, Mil-Spec Pharisee

Integrated Data for Maintenance

NG Corp

 

-----Original Message-----
From:
techwr-l-bounces+darren.butler.ctr=robins.af.mil at lists.techwr-l.com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+darren.butler.ctr=robins.af.mil at lists.techwr-l.
com] On Behalf Of Van Laan, Krista
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 3:47 PM
To: techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: How many levels of indents and heads are reasonable?

 

Are there any guidelines anywhere for what is a reasonable number of

headers and indents?

 

We have a page layout that includes a couple of outdented headers. Body

text is 3 levels of indentation, which causes the left alignment to be

in any of 5 places. Some of the team have expressed a desire for another

2 or 3 levels of indents. I am not sure how and why these would be used,

so I'd like to be open to this, but am interested in doing some research

before I make a recommendation.

 

I'm also wondering about current thinking on heading levels. Can it all

be done with 4 levels, or do we need 6 or more?

 

This layout will show up in online help and PDF documents. I'd

appreciate input but also references if possible.

 

Thanks,

 

 Krista Van Laan

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