TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Bulleted Text References From:Yves François Jeaurond <jingting -at- MAGMA -dot- CA> Date:Wed, 24 Jun 1998 23:32:30 PDT
To whomever sent me this:
The Chicago Manual of Style, discusses
Outline style (#8.76 ss.) where you will find
info on bullets.
In Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic
Style--Second Edition" (Hartley & Marks,
Vancouver, Z246.B74, 1996), though
mentionned only briefly (pp. 40 & 273),
bullets are used in a remarkable way (p. 38)
He places the text flush left with the bullet
in (!) the margin. It's a hanging indent
(to use Word's terminology) with the paragraph
moved to the left to make the indent align
with the rest of the text like so:
< bulleted para 1
< bulleted para 2
It is effective though not commonly used.
His discussion of paragraphs and lists go into
more detail.
Whomever typeset Blake & Bly's
"The Elements of Technical Writing (New York,
Simon & Schuster, T11.B628 1993 also does
it like Bringhurst.
My trusty "Lexique des règles typographiques
en usage à l'Imprimerie nationale"
(Imprimerie nationale, Paris,
ISBN 2-11-081075-0) let me down a bit, yet
the discussion of multi paragraph quotations
is germaine: they use open quotation marks
for each para of the quotation (only the last
para gets a closing quote mark) much to the
effect of bullets.
The Microsoft Manual of Style (MMS) for
Technical Pubs does demonstrate bullet use
everywhere (see periods, plurals, procedures,
and so on)
HTH,
Yves Jeaurond
jingting -at- magma -dot- ca
----------
> Yes, but while Chicago defines flush-and-hang in my 1982 edition (I
> know, but it's still a functional book) they do not apply it, or refer
> to bulleted lists. Does anyone have a more current volume that
> discusses bullets?
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Yves François Jeaurond [SMTP:jingting -at- magma -dot- ca]
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 1998 12:24 AM
> > To: Scott Miller
> > Cc: Childs -at- ATL -dot- CARREKER -dot- COM; alexs -at- VISTEON -dot- COM
> > Subject: Re: Bulleted text
> >
> > Scott Miller:
> >
> > Btw, all of the bulleted lists in the MMS are in what the Chicago
> > Manual of Style calls "flush-and-hang" style (see the CMS, 8.77)
> > <grin> Sometimes actions speak louder than words...
> >
> > Cordially,
> >
> > Yves Jeaurond
> > jingting -at- magma -dot- ca
> >
> > ----------
> > (...)> Bulleted lists are always related to the preceeding
> > information. So,
> > > indenting the list to indicate that it relates to preceeding
> > information
> > > is redundant.
> > >
> > > MS style guide says nothing about indentation.
> > >
> > > - Scott Miller
> > > smiller -at- portal -dot- com
