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Subject:RE: Number List with Only One Item? From:salatas <salatas -at- micron -dot- com> To:"'Hager, Harry (US - East Brunswick)'" <hhager -at- dc -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 12 May 2000 16:03:09 -0600
Jim Hager wrote:
>when the procedure consists of only a single step, I
also use a numbered list.
>Why do I do this? When a reader looks, browses, or reads my documentation
they can immediately determine which information is a procedure. Every time
a reader sees a numbered list in my documentation, they know it's a
procedure.
>Any comments for or against this structure?
Response:
You might want to check the archive from a few months back; I'm pretty sure
that this has been discussed recently.
A step numbered 1. without any subsequent steps just looks like something is
missing. Surely there is a way to introduce a procedure without resorting to
a lone number 1.
From the example you gave, it looks like you introduce all your procedures
with an infinitive phrase. In my group, we use bold, Arial, italic for the
infinitive phrase, and precede it with a caret, arrow, or triangular bullet
pointing to the right. The look varies slightly between online help, HTML,
and PDF, but the effect is the same--we are telling readers that what
follows is a procedure. If there is only one step, it is treated as an
indented sentence (no numbering).
