RE: TOC article in INTERCOM -- things that made me go "HUH??"

Subject: RE: TOC article in INTERCOM -- things that made me go "HUH??"
From: John Posada <JPosada -at- book -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:58:23 -0500


In this example...it was shortened. However, that isn't the criteria upon
which the change should be made, just this example, even if it was a poor
one. The criteria is that if it is better when different, then make it
better...if it cannot be made better, then don't do it.

Would you rather have a hard and fast rule that says "NEVER MAKE THE TOC
ENTRY DIFFERENT THAN THE HEADING" even if it would be better for the user?
Sounds similar to "A PUNCTUATION MARK ALWAYS GOES INSIDE OF THE QUOTATION
MARK", or how about this one..."ALWAYS PUT ONE SPACE AFTER A PERIOD".

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Hanvey [mailto:jewahe -at- lycos -dot- co -dot- uk]
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 12:48 PM
To: John Posada; TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: TOC article in INTERCOM -- things that made me go "HUH??"


My feelings are if you're going to spend the time to "shorten" the TOC
entry, seeing it as perhaps "better," then you should shorten the actual
heading. Even changing from "Configuring the Email Server" to "Email Server
Configuration" can be confusing to the reader, so I *always* make the TOC
entries match the actual headers.

Jeff Hanvey
Augusta, GA
jewahe -at- lycos -dot- co -dot- uk
http://www.jewahe.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Posada" <JPosada -at- book -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 12:34 PM
Subject: RE: TOC article in INTERCOM -- things that made me go "HUH??"

> Sometimes, it's hard to see the point for the trees...huh?
>
> Let me try to address my feelings about this TOC issue..
>
> I don't think a TOC MUST be word for word since the content of the TOC
> must stand alone and understanding the heading it reflects may be
> helped by the content that immediately precedes and follows. If the
> wording of the TOC can
> be adjusted so that it gives a better understanding, then I don't have a
> problem with it. At the same time, it must be close enought to the
> information it reflects so that when someone goes to the page, they don't
> think they are in the wrong section.

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