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.
Re: How many levels of indents and heads are reasonable?
Subject:Re: How many levels of indents and heads are reasonable? From:Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com> To:Raj Machhan <raj -dot- machhan -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:12:42 -0700
Raj Machhan wrote:
> I guess the primary objective of any technical document is to present
> information in a manner that is simple and easy to understand.
I think I disagree. The primary objective of a technical document is to
be right and not wrong. Simple and easy to understand are things that
make documents more likely to be read, but rightness is what gives a
nominal technical document its value.
> Any document,
> regardless of the complexity of its subject, having more than four levels
> has a problem with its structure.
I don't think that all audiences have extreme prejudice against more
than a few heading levels in the text of a technical document. Do you
feel that there's something intrinsically ambiguous or disorienting
about additional heading levels beyond four?
I find that people who deal with structured information in thinking,
programming, writing, etc, are usually comfortable at depths below three
or four numbered heading levels.
On the other hand, the effort required to design more than a few
visually distinctive heading levels might stop most of us from trying to
represent more than a few. I do recall one intrepid tech writer who was
happy to style heading 4 as bold italic, heading 5 as bold italic
underscore, and so on. I call it the Abyssal Stylesheet.
> It may require a lot of thought and
> ingenuity, but I guess a technical writer should have the ability to put
> across information within the four levels. One way of dealing with complex
> topics, which seemingly require more levels, is by making use of styles,
> boxes, notes, tables, fonts, colors, and other such features.
This probably works. I guess the theory is that we must reassure the
audience with soothingly organized information presentations to level 4,
and beyond that we can do what we want except to portray it as
increasingly deep structure.
TGIM!
Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
