chapter-based numbering

["Arlen P. Walker" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

      Yes, we use them to make things easier when there are changes
      to the manuals. We also start numbering over again on the
      first page of each chapter. (That is, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, new chapter:
      2-1, 2-2, 2-3...)

      This way, if there is a change to chapter 1 that affects the
      number of pages in that chapter, chapter 2 does not also need to
      be reprinted.

Can I say that I *hate* that practice, as a user? I know all the production
advantages of it. But truth is, it makes it much more difficult to find things
in the manual. For example, can you tell me how far page 2-3 is from page 5-2?
Even if chapter 5 is the next to last chapter in the book (which I might not
know the first few times I search the book) when I look at the last page and see
it's 6-4, it *still* doesn't give me a clue where 5-2 is.

When I open the manual to look up something, it never opens to the page I'm
looking for (what can I say? I guess I'm just cursed) so I have to scan forward
or backward until I find it. When the pages are sequentially numbered, if I find
page 110 when I need page 296, I know about how far ahead I need to jump. If I
find page 2-3 when I need page 5-2, I haven't the foggiest notion. Who knows?
Perhaps chapters 3 and 4 are short. Maybe they're 200 pages long each. So I have
to riffle through page by page until I find the page I'm looking for, getting
angrier and angrier by the second.


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 24

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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