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Frank Krasovic reports: <<A question came up regarding the order of front
matter in our documents. Specifically, the current, listed order of the
following components: Content at a Glance ==>> High-level, brief
overview...; Revision History ==>> Self explanatory; (lists of) Tables,
Figures, Matrices ==>> if needed in the document; numbered; (table of)
Content ==>> numbered, of course. The question/remark/opinion that came from
one of our SMEs, inferred that the order should be: Revision History, (table
of) Content... I've looked through Merriam-Webster's Manual and other
resources. They indicate that there is no preferred order for these
components.>>
There is no overall preferred order, though some specific genres or
disciplines may have one. The "correct" order is the one that your audience
is most likely to want to use; in some cases, as in academic publishing, the
audience has learned to expect a standard order such as the one expressed in
the Chicago Manual of Style, and in scientific publishing, there's also an
order that's become so standard you deviate from it at your peril. But in
technical writing, the order should be audience-based, and that means you'll
need to know what your audience expects and is comfortable with. For what
it's worth, I want to see the high-level overview first, and if the audience
is people like me, that's probably the way you should do it; conversely,
your SME wants the revision history first, and if your audience resembles
that SME, this may be the preferred approach.
<<How do you set up the front matter in your documents?>>
Much along the lines of what you chose, minus the revision history. I
believe that each new manual should stand alone, without requiring reference
to previous manuals; thus, the revision history is most likely to go online,
either as part of the readme file or in the online help. I do make an
exception for dramatic changes between versions; for example, if the new
procedure conficts with what users have learned from the old software, I'll
add a caution or warning note in the margin.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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