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Subject:RE: Procedures - Must we use numbered steps? From:"Shenton, David (DTRN)" <david -dot- shenton -at- smithsdetection -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 18 Apr 2006 09:21:52 -0600
Steven
No wonder I cant cook.... if only they numbered the steps. I even have problems with the instructions on packages.
Dave
On 4/18/06, Steven Brown <stevenabrown -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> We spend a great deal of time formatting numbered procedures and the
> numbered substeps that are often embedded within them. (How many times
> have we struggled with Word's autonumbering?) It's become an accepted
> practice that when you write a procedure, you use numbers to show the
> sequence of steps.
>
> But I wonder, is it really necessary to use numbered steps at all?
> Gordon Meyer's Usable Help blog
> (http://www.g2meyer.com/usablehelp/index.html)
> recently discussed what techncial writers might learn from recipe
> writers. While he doesn't raise the issue of numbered steps, it struck
> me that recipes rarely use numbered steps at all, yet somehow cookbook
> readers are able to follow a fairly complex sequence of tasks.
>
> So I ask, have you ever considered writing procedures without numbers?
>
> (And please, please. I'm not suggesting that numbered procedures
> should be struck from all technical documentation, so please don't
> raise the typical Space Shuttle and nuclear reactor examples to prove
> a point.
> I'm merely wondering if numbered steps must be used in all
> situations.)
>
> Steven Brown
>
>
>
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