Links to related topics. Relationship tables or topic-by-topic lists?

Subject: Links to related topics. Relationship tables or topic-by-topic lists?
From: Andrew Harvie <withanie -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2012 16:00:11 -0300

G'day all.

Currently building a new project using Flare. For lists of related
topics, I'm weighing the merits of using relationship tables versus
putting links into each topic. Both techniques seem to have their
merits. The links are certainly easier to manage when adding a new
topic to the list is as easy as updating a row instead of adding a new
item to the list in X separate topic files.

Somewhat complicating my design is that for tasks, I want to provide
a list of next steps (task-related topics to read next, if any).
These are almost always specific to the task just completed, so I
can't see them fitting into a rel-table nearly as well as, say, a list
of vaguely-related tasks. It seems a bit ugly to create a hybrid of
links from a rel-table and topic-specific links, but maybe that's the
only way?

So, relationship table or topic-by-topic list of links to related
information. Which do you prefer and why?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need.

Try Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.

http://bit.ly/doc-to-help

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives


Previous by Author: Re: Usage question - "... un-initialized state" or "... an uninitialized state"
Next by Author: RE: syncing calendars - Outlook to Google...
Previous by Thread: TECHWR-L Premium Jobs, Events, and Announcements
Next by Thread: TechWhirl: Technical Communication Recap for October 5, 2012


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads