OT: Heading levels in a UG

[Peter Gold]

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