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Subject:Bullets n' numbering - can they coexist? From:"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 15 Mar 2001 13:09:31 -0500
Ken Wasden wonders: <<What I want to do is be able to put bullets on the
left side of the numbered/custom outline numbers. Is this possible? My
boss likes the lookof it...>>
Just about anything is possible with a bit of ingenuity: for example, define
the style for these paragraphs as a bulleted list, and insert a {SEQ}
(sequence) field as the first character on each line, or number the bullets
manually. But the fact that you _can_ do something does not imply that you
should.
Bullets and numbers serve different functions, providing visual grouping for
(respectively) items that belong together but that don't have a particular
hierarchy and items that belong together but that have a distinct sequence.
Using both formats at the same time sends mixed signals, and (at best) looks
"busy". From the standpoint of information design, the question to ask
yourself is how providing double the number of signals at the left margin
improves readability or comprehension. My suspicion is that you'll find it
does neither, and may in fact reduce both.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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