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Well, documentation follows software, and the trend in software is to
avoid exposing the user to numbers as much as possible. A visible number
is like a visible seam or nail, perhaps unavoidable, possibly a design
feature in a special case if done right, but mostly to be avoided.
Consider the web: as long as files were located via long, complicated
numbers, nobody paid attention. A few Domain Name Servers pop up to
translate the numbers into text, and boom!
Chapters should be identified by a brief poetic phrase, possibly a
haiku, or, in an extreme case, a limerick.
Dang. My corporate style guide requires me to use numbers. Oh, well.
Chapter 1 - Installing {insert software title here}
We tend not to do introductions anymore, since we downsized the
documentation. In days of old, we numbered the introduction "1".
Mike Huber
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
>
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