Re: Numbering of Figures

["Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

Mike Stockman <mstockman -at- mac -dot- com> wrote:

>Why do people number figures and tables at all? As a user, I've never 
>needed to use a list of figures or list of tables, and in the text, 
>writing "The following window appears" or "This diagram indicates..." or 
>"The following table shows the possible values for..." usually suffices. 
>If the sole purpose of numbering figures/tables/etc. is to refer to them 
>in text, a title, page number, or (in hypertext) direct link will work 
>just as well, I think.

It depends on the context, Mike. In some kinds of work, your way makes sense. In other kinds of work, it doesn't.

>
>It also makes the conversion to hypertext media easier, since any 
>sequential numbering system will likely be meaningless when the user may 
>jump to a section randomly.
>

As discussed yesterday, this should be handled automatically in a well designed single-sourcing system.




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