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RE: For references or directives, do you say where/why and then what/how, or vice versa?
Subject:RE: For references or directives, do you say where/why and then what/how, or vice versa? From:"Wright, Lynne" <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- Kronos -dot- com> To:Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Fri, 17 Aug 2018 16:45:34 +0000
Good callâ. Youâve gotta be a âteam playerâ after all!
From: Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2018 12:44 PM
To: Wright, Lynne <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- Kronos -dot- com>
Cc: John Allred <john2 -at- allrednet -dot- com>; techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Subject: Re: For references or directives, do you say where/why and then what/how, or vice versa?
The house style at my current employer is to use letters for callouts. I disagreed at first (for the reasons given), but it's another one of those hills I don't need to climb up, much less die on. Letters or numbers, it gets the job done, and the small disambiguation is a bonus.
Besides, several of the managers/users here said they found it less confusing to use letters, especially since the legend tends to immediately precede the procedure. In the spirit of "know thy audience" and "keep management happy", I conceded. :D
On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 12:20 PM, Wright, Lynne <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- kronos -dot- com<mailto:Lynne -dot- Wright -at- kronos -dot- com>> wrote:
I agree... its more or less a universal standard that numbers on a graphic are associated to callout entries that are listed in numerical order right after the graphic.
Not that using letters isn't fine; but I certainly wouldn't start changing all my callout numbers to letters on the very remote chance that somebody might get confused.
I think sometimes we create more work for ourselves by overthinking things.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com<mailto:kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> <techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com<mailto:kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>> On Behalf Of John Allred
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2018 11:43 AM
To: Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com<mailto:ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>>
Cc: techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com<mailto:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>>
Subject: Re: For references or directives, do you say where/why and then what/how, or vice versa?
The use of numbers for callouts is a long-standing practice that I agree with. Yes, âsome peopleâ will fail to understand the simplest of instructions. Can that be remedied through changing conventions?
On Aug 17, 2018, at 9:42 AM, Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com<mailto:ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>> wrote:
>
> ...
> My current preference (subject to change with better data) is to use
> letters as callouts on the graphic and refer the reader to that
> callout letter. This was after much grumbling on my part, since my
> preference is to use numbers, not letters, but the argument that the
> reader could interpret the callout number as being associated with a
> numbered step was enough to convince me to change my ways.
>
>
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Lin Sims
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