Re: Are chapter numbes a thing of the past?

[John Posada <jposada99 -at- gmail -dot- com>]

> I've always had the opposite reaction...it's much easier for me to
> find page 27 in a printed book (no matter how long it is) than it is
> for me to find page 5-3.


I'd hope that content is grouped logically by chapter. The reason for
finding a chapter is that it has the content-type most appropriate for
your question. The number is a way of labeling the chapter in a way
easy to follow the sequence.

You aren't going to chapter 5 because you want a 5. You are going to
the chapter because it contains the configuration information for the
XYZ-3 Conflagurator. The 5 just makes it easier to refer someone else
to the chapter.


> I worked on a 600-page printed manual for a client last year. One
> chapter (programmer's reference) was almost 300 pages long (chapter
> 11). I still don't know how anyone found anything easily.

It would have been worse if they also had to look in chapter 1-10

-- 
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

NYMetro STC President
"Register for our next event on wikis by going to
http://www.stcnymetro.org/events/notices/apr232009.htm

Looking for the next gig.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing 
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor,  Microsoft Word or 
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. 
http://www.doctohelp.com

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat