Nested bullets - how many levels deep do you go?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

David Downing wondered: <<We routinely use second-level nested bullets  
in our documentation, but our policy is to never take it beyond a  
second level. However, there have been times when I saw a need to go  
to a third level... I've been told that when that happens, I need to  
figure out some way of leveling out the hierarchy so I can keep the  
list to two nesting levels. (I think one of my editors once suggested  
that if I felt the need to go to a third level or beyond, I was  
overthinking.)>>

I have a lot of sympathy for your editor's attitude. If you include  
numbered steps as level one of the "bullets", and true bullets as  
level 2, that's about as far as I'm comfortable going. Dive any deeper  
than that and you'll be moving beyond the point at which the hierarchy  
is easily comprehensible.

Possibly you should send us an example of your problem and see if we  
can come up with a better solution? For example, those few times I've  
been tempted to go to three levels of bullets, I found that replacing  
the 2nd and 3rd levels with a two column table solved the problem  
neatly. In many cases, the 3rd level turned out to be options that  
described the 2nd level rather than something that truly required a  
3rd level.

--------------------------------------------------------
Geoff Hart (www.geoff-hart.com)
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
--------------------------------------------------------
***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/books/eoe/onscreen-book.htm)

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