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Subject:Question marks in titles? From:Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 31 Jan 2005 22:12:14 -0500
Janice Gelb wondered: <<My editing group is having a discussion about
the suitability of section titles phrased as questions in technical
documentation. I was wondering how the Techwr-l group mind felt about
this issue.>>
Well, question titles certainly make sense in FAQs--which aren't, after
all, "frequently stated imperative declarations using present
participles". <g>
<<My personal view is that question titles are possibly acceptable in
tutorials or beginner-level material but that for more advanced
technical material this type of phrasing should be avoided.>>
I'm not sure I buy that logic, since FAQs (the most prominent example)
are well beloved of techies everywhere, providing that they're well
designed and make it easy to find specific questions.
There are, however, sound reasons to avoid question titles. To me, the
most compelling is that most questions are significantly longer than
the equivalent imperative or declarative alternative because you have
to add at least one of the five w's (who, what, when, where, and why)
and usually an actor (e.g., "Why should I?" or "Why should you?") to
the actual meat of the sentence. Since headings should facilitate
skimming and since we know that only loonies like us actually enjoy
reading, headings should be short and to the point.
Why use imperatives or declaratives? Imperative headings ("Turn on the
printer") work great when the headings, taken in order, summarize the
overall process in an effective sequence: turn on the printer,
configure the printer, print. Someone who knows the basics but needs a
refresher can simply skim the headings to get an overview of the steps.
Declaratives work great to describe activities when the headings need
not necessarily follow a specific sequence. For example: selecting the
font, setting font size and leading, setting line length. Combine the
two approaches for fun and profit:
Configuring the printer
Turn on the printer [followed by steps]
Open the printer control panel [followed by steps]
Print the document [followed by steps]
--Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
www.geoff-hart.com
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