Line Spacing in Bullet Lists

[QMS Account <Robert -dot- Morrisette -at- EBAY -dot- SUN -dot- COM>]

I'd like some feedback on formatting lists. When using bulleted lists,
is there any standard for applying spacing between items? When I was
doing work for IBM, I was told to use compact lists (i.e., no line
spacing between items) if the items were one line long. If any of the
items fit on more than one line, then put a line space between all
items in the list.

I have no idea what the rationale for this was, but that was the way we
were told to format bulleted lists. I'm now preparing a style guide for
my departmnet and need to establish some guidlines for list
formatting. To keep things simple, I'm inclined to tell people not to
use any line spacing between items in bulleted lists.

Can anyone offer any suggestions or advice?

Thanks.

                              Keith
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If you do not space between the bulleted items, reading is more difficult.
I use 4 pt. spacing for hard-copy docs and 6 pts. for on-line docs.
Create some sample lists and compare them for readability.

William Horton gives an good discussion of bullets and other lists in
"Illustrating Computer Documentation."

Bob Morrisette
Consultant
Robert -dot- Morrisette -at- EBay -dot- Sun -dot- COM