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Another thing to consider is the final output of the document. For those of us going from FrameMaker to HTML or PDF, there's a risk when you put a caution above a step. If a user clicks on a hyperlink to get to a step, the hyperlink could take him/her directly to the step text, so the user could potentially miss the caution entirely. You have to get the hyperlink to jump above the step so the caution always shows (a problem if you're linking to the step number itself).
The book Single Sourcing - Building Modular Documentation by Kurt Ament recommends placing notes and cautions after a step for just this reason. Think of it in terms of an outline. If you're looking at an outline, do you expect to see information relating to an item before the item itself? Or does it all follow the number?
Donna
-----Gene Kim-Eng wrote:-----
OSHA, ANSI and ISO requirements for safety notifications all differ
from MIL requirements, and from each other. You need to find out
which requirements you're working under. The real fun starts if you
find out that your product is shipping to multiple markets and needs
to comply with more than one standard.
Generally, however, the last time I looked all of the above required
cautions or warnings to appear prior to the step they apply to, and
to be repeated wherever they are applicable.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Spreadbury, David " <David -dot- Spreadbury -at- afc -dot- com>
Mil-38784 clearly defines when and where any type of admonishment
(Caution, Warning, Note) should appear.
> I was wondering if anyone on this list knows of any good resources that
> clearly defines where cautions/warnings should be placed within a set of
> procedures, and how often they should appear.
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