Re: Paragraph numbering?
You can make a decent guess at where you should open the document based on
the clause number, and instantly see (from the clause numbers on the page
you have opened) in which direction you are out. Therefore getting to the
correct clause is a matter of successive refinement that takes only a few
seconds.
Not true. Let's say you're reading a 500-page document with 6 chapters.
where would you expect to find topic 4.2.3? Whatever your answer may be, I
can show you examples of documents where your guess is wrong.
A page number is a more reliable pointer to the location of information. In
a 500-page document, you would know where to begin look for page No. 423 (I
hope).
If you don't already know where "Methods, Applying for a court date, in
Montreal" is, you have to look it up in the Table of Contents (which
is not
ordered alphabetically) or the index (if the document happens to have one,
and if this item happens to have been indexed in the way you have
described), and then you look up the page number. The process of getting
to
the right page based on the page number is pretty much the same as getting
to the right page based on the section number, but you have had to make an
additional lookup to get to the point where you have a page number to
find.
That's not the best possible heading for such a topic. When we provide
examples, let's not get into the rhetorical trap of providing a ridiculous
construct just to make a point. The obvious problem with the above example
would be more of that of using an unwieldy heading rather than a numbering
pattern issue.
The primary advantage of numbered headings arise from the need for explicit
quotes from a document, such as a contract (or other legal documents) or
requirements, or specifications docs.
edwin
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References:
Paragraph numbering?: From: Geoff Hart
RE: Paragraph numbering?: From: Jonathan West
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