TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Geoff Hart said
> The word-based cross-reference then offers the advantage of greater
> "friendliness" to a general audience that may be intimidated by
> numbers. By no means am I stating that we should assume our audience
> is less intelligent than we are. But we should consider whether
> numbering creates yet another disincentive to read our docs for an
> audience that already has plenty of excuses.
Not disagreeing, but reinforcing the point that you need to consider the
audience. I was for some years the committee secretary of one of the
international standards committees which wrote the technical standards for
the GSM digital mobile phone system, and I was the editor of about 5,000
pages of standards, mostly the test specification for the phone itself.
In this case, numbered headings were absolutely essential, because there
were occasions where multiple headings had the same name but different
content, and it was vital that cross-references were entirely unambiguous.
For instance, in the mobile phone test specification, it was necessary to be
specific as to which requirement the test was supposed to be testing.
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Easily create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to any popular Help file format or printed documentation. Learn more at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot-
