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> What I'd like to know is if anyone out there feels the opposite way.
> What advantages does section numbering have over doing away with the
> numbers?
Then Bev Parks wrote:
>Navigation.... It's almost (but
>not quite) as precise as if I had given you a page number.
>I know, I know: So why not just use the page numbers?
How about this: Bev's right about the navigation through a complex document.
But many of these documents, specs, & so forth date back to the pre-dtp
days, when there was no automated way to prepare an index or TOC. If you
-expect- your document to undergo a series of revisions, the writer's easy
answer is to insert a complex paragraph numbering system (with the under-
standing that these paragraphs numbers normally won't change from one
revision to the next). Shorter turnaround time, cheaper production.
It may be a little more confusing for the reader, but that wasn't always
taken into consideration, 30 or 40 years ago.
Rick Lippincott
Boston Technology
Wakefield, MA
rjl -at- bostech -dot- com
