On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 7:31 AM, Lin Sims<ljsims.ml at gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 3:25 AM, Evanth, > Henrik<Henrik.Evanth at sonyericsson.com> wrote: >> Hi All >> >> I have an off-topic question that may or may not interest you. >> >> We are having a discussion at the office regarding the maximum levels of >> heading that a User guide/User manual can/should contain. Do you know of any >> best practice rules that define how deep a publication should/could be. >> Personally I think that 6 levels is too deep for a user, but that is just a >> personal preference that I cannot back up with "evidence". >> >> Heading 1 >> ? Heading 2 >> ? ? ?Heading 3 >> ? ? ? ? Heading 4 >> ? ? ? ? ? ?Heading 5 >> ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Heading 6 >> >> Insights, comments or instructions are highly appreciated. > > I attended an Edward Tufte seminar a number of years ago. He does book > signings at these, and while he was signing my copies he asked my > profession. When I said "technical writer", his response was "No more > than 3 levels of headings." > > -- > Lin Sims > _______________________________________________
Art Campbell says it this way: "I agree, four is as many as you need (and, I believe the most I've ever seen in a published book) -- if you think you need more, it may be because of an organizational problem." I guess Tufte didn't verbally indicate "*" and "<G>" with his comment. His methods of providing multiple layers of information - sparklines, common measurement references across graphics that vary in scale, and various graphic schemes that indicate data and information relationships - present much of the additional levels of information, without additional heading levels. IOW, "organizational problem" solutions. Regards, Peter __________________ Peter Gold KnowHow ProServices