Re: Chapter summaries at start of doc: yes/no?

["David Loveless" <daveloveless -at- gmail -dot- com>]

For what it's worth, I included chapter summaries at the beginning of
my most recent manual. On review, I plan on taking them out at my
earliest convenience.

My reasoning:

1--Audience Analysis shows that the manual is used as a reference book
roughly 99% of the time.
2--If the Index and TOC are solid, users will look there and be
directed straight to the appropriate location in the manual. Analysis
confirms this.
3--If they are going straight to the correct location in the manual,
they are not reading the chapter summary.
4--Text unread is wasted.

I also feel that chapter summaries can be construed as redundant
material, though I do see the usefulness of having chapter summaries
in certain contexts for certain audiences. For example, if I write a
workbook, textbook, or other similar material, I find chapter
summaries to be useful clues for what the reader should look for.

Dave
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