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Subject:Re: Updating Hard Copies of Existing Manuals From:Iain Harrison <iharrison -at- SCT -dot- CO -dot- UK> Date:Thu, 12 Jun 1997 13:20:57 GMT
>>Page numbering can be 15a, 15b, etc. That inevitably leads to pages
containing only the sentence "This page intentionally left blank." <<
I've always wondered about this phrase: it is clearly incorrect. If
the words 'This page intentionally left blank' appear on the page, it
isn't blank, is it?
The policy I follow is to ensure that every 'blank' page has the
appropriate header and footer, so readers know it was printed, at
least.
Word needs some coaxing to do this -- if you tell it the start a
section on a right hand page, Word throws a completely blank page, no
header or footer. Stupid, in my view.
Back to the subject:
In my experience, updates are a complete waste of time. Users are too
busy doing their jobs to fiddle round putting pages in, and the
overheads involved in getting someone else to do it are far too high.
Update pages are an indication that the company gives little value to
documentation, and even less value to the time of the users of their
product.
If the documentation is out of date, produce a new set. If minor
amendments are sufficient, produce a self-contained addendum booklet,
but don't expect users to reconstruct documentation!
Iain Harrison
iain -at- hairydog -dot- clara -dot- net
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