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I would go with whatever bullet style your manager says the field
technicians prefer. They might have odd preferences, but they're the
target audience - right?
I'm having a discussion with my manager (I report into the Engineering
dept. as the only writer) about bullet styles. I use a square bullet for
the main bullet and another bullet style for a sub bullet. I use the
main bullet style regardless if the list is in the main body or a step.
My manager thinks because the bullet list is in a step, that the bullet
should not look the same as if it's in the body. He uses Word as his
guide-that when you press the indent arrow that the bullet style
changes. I develop templates in Word and FrameMaker and want the Word
templates to match with what I have for Frame, which is my main tool.
He also said that field technicians may be scanning down for say square
bullets and get confused if they see a square bullet in a step list.
I've never heard this complaint, but that doesn't mean it's not
relevant-just seems odd.
I found several examples on Microsoft.com for Word styles as well as the
Microsoft Manual of style, where the same bullet icon is used for a list
in the body or in a step. Any opinions on this?
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