Beginning Titles with "How To"

[Kelly Keck]

Deborah Slutzky wrote:

>Hello All,
>I need some  opinions. Just wondering how folks feel about beginning
>topic titles with  "How to..." I'm used to beginning them with a gerund,
>but the shop that I  am now working for has an assorted bag of formats
>and I run into this once  in a while. Personally, I don't care for it
>because I think the entire Help  is a How to.....but I'd like some
>thoughts from  others.

I dislike it for a couple reasons:

-It gets repetitive, especially if the "How To" headings are included in
your TOC, one right after the other.

-It buries the real topic behind filler words, making it tougher for someone
skimming through headings or a TOC or glancing at a title to find what
they're looking for.

-As you said, the whole thing is a "How To," so it should go without saying.

Since you refer to Help rather than to a manual, I assume this on-line help?
If so, the "How To" might be less jarring, since the user is looking at each
piece separately rather than all together.  Still, I'd prefer gerunds if you
have the leeway to change them--especially if the mixed bag of formats your
refer to is occurring in a single Help system.  If that's the case,
rewording for consistency would be a good thing.

Kelly Keck