Re: How Would You

[Robert Plamondon <robert -at- PLAMONDON -dot- COM>]

Rita Nesslroth wrote:

>Better yet is a company-wide tracking system that numbers all bugs:
>each bug is identified as #666 or whatever, so everyone knows which
>bug is being discussed, and you get out of having to number paragraphs
>that don't want to be numbered.

This is appropriate if the number of bugs is large, though my
experience has been that software groups throw away and reimplement
their bug databases at such a high rate that the existence of
a meaningful numbering scheme can't be relied upon.  However, I think
that the concept (mentioned by others) that "numbered paragraphs are
only for numbered procedural steps" is silly.  Numbered lists are for
anything that a reader would find convenient to think about or refer
to as part of an enumeration, or which the writer finds convenient
to present as one.  They may well have no verb at all, making
them completely non-procedural -- enumerations of major subassemblies,
parts lists, and such.

        -- Robert

--
Robert Plamondon, High-Tech Technical Writing, Inc.
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