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Subject:Re: Info in Headers and Footers From:Keith Hood <bus -dot- write -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> Date:Mon, 12 Sep 2016 15:33:24 -0500
Technically speaking, if the document has section numbering, headers and
footers are pretty much useless except for page numbers. The technical
basis for either is to give the reader information that locates the
page/topic within the publication. That's generally not needed with section
numbering; it pretty much obviates any need for chapter numbers or titles.
But, the othe use for headers and footers is to project the "look and feel"
that the sales/marketing people may want or to cover the bases identified
as necessary by the legal people. So they must be consulted before a
template can be finalized.
On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 3:07 PM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
> With documents being delivered only in soft form, I've seen a lot more
> printing of single pages compared to the olden days when people "printed"
> single pages by putting a book face down on a copy machine. So I would say
> a document page's headers and footers need enough information to enable
> someone to look at a printed copy of it and know where it came from. At
> minimum, the document's title and revision and the page number. Beyond
> that, it's best to talk to some of your users to see what information they
> find useful.
>
> A lot of your users in the field will be reading your documents on
> tablets, which are rapidly becoming the default over notebooks. There's a
> good chance they'll be maximizing the page by hiding TOC, bookmark and page
> preview sidebars, so it's probably not a good idea to depend on those
> instead of information that's visible on the page.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
> On 9/12/2016 10:11 AM, Martinek, Carla wrote:
>
>> If designing a template from scratch, what would you put in the headers
>> and footers?
>>
>> Consider that your documentation is distributed to users via PDF at this
>> time.
>>
>>
>> 1. What information do you really *need* in the headers and footers.
>>
>
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