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Patrick Wright wondered: <<I'm working on a large user's manual... and
have been asked not to rewrite or reorganize it in any significant way,
mainly due to time constraints on the deliverable... many
cross-references are necessary. I have decided that the Microsoft style
guidelines for cross-references are pretty reasonable. In this
approach, cross-references are usually given as the chapter or section
title, and the page number. The page number seems important because of
the size of the manual.>>
Hey, Microsoft's off to a great start... already two decisions I agree
with this year, and it's only March! Of course, their batting average
still won't earn them a place in the major leagues, but I do strive to
find the silver lining. <g>
<<I've also been asked to prepare a prototype version of the manual in
HTML... The problem is what to do with page numbers, which won't make
sense in an HTML document.>>
The easy solution is to simply replace all instances of "page X" with
"page X in the original manual". Yes, it's a bit redundant, but on the
plus side, those of us who prefer to have a reference book open rather
than the online help while we work in the application will find this a
godsend. On the other (digital) hand, those who want to use the online
help can simply ignore the page reference and simply click on the
underlined link to go straight to the correct "page" of online manual.
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