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<<Should PDFs of manuals include front and back covers?>>
You certainly need a title page, so that when the document opens, readers
know what document they've opened. For an online document, there's no reason
not to present the table of contents (with hyperlinks) on the same page. But
if the PDF is designed solely for online viewing, there's obviously no
"cover" and thus, no need for a cover page. If it's designed for printing:
<<Should they be formatted for double or single sided printing?>>
Formatting it double-sided won't make any appreciable difference for online
use, but can make the book much easier to use in print. Even if not many
people have a duplexing printer, or are willing to print the document in two
passes (once with the odd-numbered pages and again, on the backs of these
pages, with the even-numbered pages), some people will indeed bind the book
or photocopy several copies, and for them, double-sided printing makes good
sense. But this depends on the design: if all page numbers appear at the
right-hand margin, irrespective of the page, then double-sided printing
won't be of much help: the design must take advantage of this by (for
example) placing all the page numbers away from the binding margin.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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