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Most of my college textbooks used numbered sections. While I have not
done a survey of textbooks in general, I'd be surprised if an audience
of college-educated users would find the least difficulty in using
a manual with numbered sections.
Most technical manuals also have numbered sections. In fact, the absence
of numbering in technical material seems to be pretty much confined to
software documentation. Even there, section numbering is common.
I have no idea whether section numbering would intimidate an audience
with no college education. The mechanism itself is pretty obvious, though.
A bright third-grader will figure out all there is to know about section
numbers in about five seconds.
-- Robert
--
Robert Plamondon, High-Tech Technical Writing, Inc.
36475 Norton Creek Road * Blodgett * Oregon * 97326
robert -at- plamondon -dot- com * (541) 453-5841 * Fax: (541) 453-4139 http://www.pioneer.net/~robertp
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