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Subject:Re: Are chapter numbes a thing of the past? From:Jonathan West <jwest -at- mvps -dot- org> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:49:56 +0100
2009/4/23 Char James-Tanny <charjtf -at- gmail -dot- com>:
>> The main reason numbers are put in is for ease and clarity of
>> reference. It is much easer to tell someone "Take a look at section
>> 5.3 of the XYZ Guide" than to say "look at the section titled
>> 'left-handed widgets' halfway down page 27 of the XYZ Guide".
>
> I've always had the opposite reaction...it's much easier for me to
> find page 27 in a printed book (no matter how long it is) than it is
> for me to find page 5-3.
Clause 5.3, not page 5-3. The fact that you number clauses doesn't
mean that you restart page numbering at the start of each chapter.
If the document is long enough to justify it, you have Table of
Contents in which you list clause 5.3 as being on page 27.
>
> I worked on a 600-page printed manual for a client last year. One
> chapter (programmer's reference) was almost 300 pages long (chapter
> 11). I still don't know how anyone found anything easily.
Something that long needs a good table of contents and a good index.
Regards
Jonathan West
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