AW: Numbered headings?

Subject: AW: Numbered headings?
From: "Reng, Winfried" <winfried -dot- reng -at- msi-muenchen -dot- de>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 18:10:03 +0200

Hi,

> And it is cluttered.
>
> Structure to a document can be shown using numbering, it can also be
> shown visually with layout.

Yes. True. However in most manuals the various heading
levels look rather similar in their layout. If I don´t
have a heading1 to compare to on the same page I don´t
know whether the heading that I see on a certain page
is level 2, 3 or 4. 2 point difference (as suggested)
is a noticable difference from 8 to 10. But not from
16 to 18. It´s often - even with a good layout -
ambiguous for a user who doesn´t know our layout well.
But the user doesn´t want to interpret our layout
to know where he is. He wants to solve his problem.

> Referring to a heading is complicated because if it is a physical
> (printed) document, you need the page number more that the heading
> numbering. Once on the page the text description (heading text) is
> more recognizable that numbers.

No-one would remove page numbers. However when I see
a cross-reference that says 3 "User settings" or
3.1.1 "User settings" that makes a big difference and
in one case I might check the target of the cross-
reference and in the other case I won´t.

> Numbering headings down past two level is often counter-productive,
> as is numbering when the numbers reach obtuse lengths such as having
> more than two digits throughout the number (2.13.2.23). Then you have
> users encountering problems when they mis-read and instead go to
> 2.13.23.3.

I agree. There shouldn´t be more than 4 heading levels and
only the first 3 should be numbered. In my opinion that´s
a good compromise.

Probably everyone will do what he/she prefers themselves.
I use numbered headings to orientate in documentation
and apply it myself. Others seem to ignore it and won´t
have any in their documentation.

Cheers,

Winfried

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