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I've working on an approximately 140 page programmer document. There aren't
a ton of tables or figures. Currently,their titles/captions are in the side
bar to the left. For instance:
"Figure 5, The Creation of the Earth"
"Table 12, Required Database Fields"
My cross references in FrameMaker always say something like:
For details, see Figure 5, "The Creation of the Earth" on page 123.
For details, see Table 12, "Required Database Fields" on page 72.
I'm now wondering whether there is genuine benefit of the table and figure
numbering when my xrefs diligently include a well-thought-out name and the
page number.
1) omitting seems cleaner, both on the original item and the xref. For
details, see the diagram "How My Manual Looks Now" on page 123. :-)
2) I won't have "table lists" or "figure indexes" or anything like that, for
which the numbers would clearly be appropriate.
3) Many folks will read the HTML version and/or read it non-linearly anyway.
Although I could do the HTML different WRT this issue, is there *genuine*
benefit on the paper/PDF versions?
Does ANYONE here support omitting table and/or figure numbers, assuming I
title and page number them all appropriately?
I'm sure some folks feel strongly about having them, but how much of that is
habit/convention versus readability. Just because many people make silly
PowerPoint bullet lists doesn't mean that it fosters good communication. :-)
