RE: Chapter summaries at start of doc: yes/no?

["Jessica Weissman" <Jessica -dot- Weissman -at- hillcrestlabs -dot- com>]

For an ordinary API or user doc I wouldn't put in those summaries.  They
serve little purpose (unlike a small advance organizer at the start of a
chapter/section), and are hard to keep up to date.

If your topic needs an overview, it may make sense as a separate Getting
Started doc.  Yes, I realize those two concepts aren't exactly the same,
but sometimes the Getting Started doc does what an overview is supposed
to do.

Anecdote:  when I was developing CBT I worked with a PhD instructional
designer who had an overview for every topic, including multiple-choice
interaction.  We canned those extra screens right away, especially since
the same stuff in the same words was repeated not too much later.  She
even had an introductory page for the overview.

You can justify it in instructional design theory terms, but not in
deadline terms.

Jessica Weissman
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