RE: page numbering in software docs

[Mark Baker <MBaker@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Points all well taken, and it occurred to me to question how users "use"
page numbers and other cues (Note to self: Topic for major study should I
ever return to academia and land a cushy grant). I use page numbers to
locate topics and sections I find referred to the Index and TOC, flipping
through until I find page 427 (or 4-27); I use running headers and footers
to identify the chapter I want to browse; and - real world data coming here
- if there's a section I'll be going back to repeatedly, I look for the
Post-It note or dog-eared corner I'm using to mark it.

To aid those who "aren't allowed" to mark documents with their own
"navigation cues" for that last type of search, the bleed tabs Ananda
reminds us of (and color or number insert divider tabs in binders) may be
the best we can provide.

Regards,

Mark Baker
Timeline, Inc.


-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Michanek [mailto:thomas.michanek@telia.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2000 2:10 AM
To: Free Framers
Cc: Mark Baker; Ada Lai
Subject: Re: page numbering in software docs


> If you think about it, both methods function the same way. Whether looking
> for page 4-27 or 427, we're scanning via a top down (or left to right)
> structure. That is, we're looking first for the '4' group, then the '2'
> subgroup, then the '7' member. Why some need a hyphen in that is beyond
me.

But chapters tend to have different number of pages. With continous
page numbering, you know there are 100 pages between 111 and 211,
whereas there can be any number of pages between 1-11 and 2-11.
Continous page numbering makes it easier to quickly find the correct
page number when flipping through a printed manual. You will know
how far to flip to get to the correct page. Also, for a 500-page
manual, you know that page 250 is in the middle, but you have no idea
where page 2-50 might be (until you learn how this manual is structured).

On the other hand, with chapter restart numbering, you'll learn that
certain things are in chapter 5, and thus flip to pages 5-xx. It's
much more difficult to remember that chapter 5 starts on page 187.

> The only argument with merit I've heard for chapter restarts: manuals in
> ring binders, where a chapter can be expanded or reduced without messing
up
> the numbering for the entire document. Typically only the chapter itself,
> the TOC and the Index need to be updated.

This advantage is evident in all manuals, regardless of binding. If you
add sections to a chapter, no other page numbers (in cross-references etc.)
are affected. The type of binder really doesn't come into the equation,
even though you're correct that this type of numbering was common in
manuals with ring binders and separate replacement pages.

Finally, two other advantages of continous page numbering in FM:
* You know how many pages your manual(s) is, which often is a factor 
  when it comes to estimating printing costs or binder thickness.
* You don't have to bother with getting page prefixes to work correctly
  in book files, TOCs, etc. As proven by many postings, this is quite
  a common problem.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
mailto:Thomas.Michanek@telia.com   (Sweden)
http://w1.133.telia.com/~u13304072/framers
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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