Re: Figures - Captions and References?

["Eric L. Dunn" <edunn -at- TRANSPORT -dot- BOMBARDIER -dot- COM>]

Beth Kane <Beth -dot- Kane -at- VENTANA -dot- COM> wrote:
>>I chuckle at the formality of figure numbers when I see them in books.
Now
>>that we have dynamically updated cross-references in tech docs, we can
tell
>>people what page the graphic appears on if we refer to one that's not
>>adjacent to the current text.

>>I can see the logic in using captions, perhaps, but not numbers.

When looking for an illustration in a manual (paper) which would you rather
scan for? A simple number or a caption that might possibly contain
technical terms that you are not yet familiar with? While we can
dynamically link references which is more elegant in a paragraph?

1. refer to Figure 15
or
2. refer to "Widget Disassembly" on page 55

If you prefer #2, think of what happens when your figure reference is in
another section. "refer to "Widget Disassembly" on page 55, section 6"
instead of "refer to Figure 6-23".
If you have two figures on a page you are starting to ask your reader to
memorise a lot of information (need to know name +page). Figure numbering I
would say is nearly always an added aid to the reader and in some cases
absolutely indispensable. Everything possible should be done to aid the
reader to maintain their train of thought. It is not a formality to number
the figures. It becomes consideration for the reader and makes our
references shorter.

Also in the mauals we produce we nearly always include the figure number
reference in the title (i.e: "2.1.3   Widget Removal (Figure 2-22)").
Without numbering what are you to do? I know we aren't the only ones doing
it this way.

On a similar note, this is a thing that makes me detest most On-Line help
systems. No page numbering. You have to remember an entire series of clicks
and links to get to information you know is in there. You can't tell
someone goto page 66 it's all explained there. Often it seems on-line help
was produced because the writers could not come up with a logical way of
explaining their product. So instead of ordering it logically, they took
the manual, split it into a million pieces, and cross-referenced (many of
them circular) the whole lot.

Mind, you I don't think I want to go into a rant against On-Line help.
Especially the stuff I have here from Lotus and MS. (It would take up far
too much bandwidth.....)

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