TABLE OF CONTENTS The formal elements of document design make technical documents, whether in print or on the Web, more accessible and readable for users. For example, a well-designed table of contents in a printed document allows readers to access and read the sections important to them. Similarly, a well-designed menu of links at the top and bottom of each Web page allows users to navigate the pages with a minimum of scrolling.
This appendix deals with five such formal elements:
Report Format
Letter and Memorandum Format (see page 637)
Documentation (see page 649)
Designing a World Wide Web Site (see page 675)
Outlining (see page 681)
Prefatory Elements
Letter of Transmittal and Preface
Cover
Title Page
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Glossary and List of Symbols
Abstracts and Summaries
Main Elements
Introduction
Discussion
Ending
Appendixes
Our approach to format is descriptive, not prescriptive; that is, we describe some of the more conventional practices used in technical reporting. We realize fully, and you should too, that many colleges, companies, and journals call for practices different from the ones we describe. Therefore, we do not recommend that you follow at all times the practices in this section. If you are a student, however, your instructor may, in the interest of class uniformity, insist that you follow this section fairly closely.
Chapter 11, Document Design, discusses strategies for achieving good design. In this section, we discuss the elements the tools you can use to carry out those strategies. We divide the elements into...
