Re: List formats

[Beth Agnew <beth -dot- agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>]

You didn't mention whether this lengthy manual has paragraph and section 
numbering, but let's assume that it does. Large documents definitely 
need some kind of navigation aid to help the user get around. If there 
are indeed paragraph and section numbers, then fancy bullets would make 
it look very cluttered. The simple and plain bullets are best, but you 
also need to consider how they look on the page, how the users react to 
them, and how they help the user acquire the information in the 
publication.

Arrows have the effect of drawing the user's attention to each bullet 
point. This is tiring for the reader, and would be exhausting on a large 
scale. Different kinds of bullets can be very effective -- checkmarks 
for unordered items that one must include in a package, for example, but 
they need to be used purposefully and sparingly.

Architects, engineers, and other people for whom precision is an 
important attribute tend to feel more comfortable with additional 
structure in a publication. They like numbering, lettered items, and 
justified text. They like to be able to refer to one specific item among 
many, and bullets do not allow for this. If you have paragraph and 
section numbering, it meets that need for visible structure so they are 
less likely to kvetch about things like bullets. This close to deadline, 
you may not want to make any wholesale changes just now; you can table 
the request for a change in bullets for the next version of the document 
and reconsider it then.

You can tell the architect (and anyone else who asks) that the bullets 
you selected were appropriate for the structure of the publication, just 
as certain materials are carefully selected for the structure of a 
building. Don't forget that you are the documentation expert, no matter 
how new you might be to the field. You are taking ownership of the 
publication and it is your right to make certain decisions about the 
look and feel of the document. As long as you can defend your decisions, 
and know when to fight and when to concede, you should be fine.
--Beth

Kirk Turner wrote: