Cross-reference style question

Subject: Cross-reference style question
From: Nancy Allison <maker -at- verizon -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:38:22 -0600 (CST)

I'm working in a long document that has internal TOCs at the beginning of each chapter.

They are presented in a simple list format, using the same x-ref formatting that is used in sentences. It's quick and easy but possibly not really stylistically acceptable. By that I mean, not stylistically acceptable TO ME. I'm wondering if my ideas of acceptability are stuck in, say, the 80s. It looks like this:

This chapter contains the following sections:

-- "Opening Your Toaster Box" on page 37
-- "Plugging in Your Toaster" on page 42
-- "Burning Your Toast" on page 67


Each bulleted item is a hyperlink and is formatted in blue ink, so that when people read the PDF online, they know they can click to go directly to that section. When the document is printed on a color printer, the text is blue, which may seem slightly odd, but the page number is provided so the reader can find the section.

Although it looks a bit kludgy to me, it is much easier to maintain than having two lists marked with conditional text:

--One has the blue hyperlink, no quotation marks, and no page numbers
--One has the quotation marks and page numbers, but no hyperlink

The two-formats-marked-with-conditional-text is what I have done in other documents, but I'm wondering if I am making work for myself and anyone else who has to maintain the docs.

Would you accept this alternate formatting? If not, what would you do instead?

Thanks!

--Nancy
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