Out with outline numbering!
I hate outline numbering. And I’ve got good reasons: complicated outline numbering makes documents hard to read, it doesn’t help anyone find where they are in a document and most of the time clear headings are better.
Just between you, me and the rest of the World Wide Web, I suspect that most people use outline numbering because the documents are so badly structured to begin with they need the numbers to make sense. You know that when you come to a heading like 1.1.1 General or 2.3.1 Other issues that the writer is just chucking stuff in anywhere they can find a spot for it.
This kind of outline numbering looks official and it feels precise, but it’ll drive your readers to distraction. Sure it’s fine for legal documents or legislation where you have to number up so that lawyers can say “Your honour, I refer to the Aardvarks Act 1963, Section 9, Subsection 3, Paragraph 82, referring to the procurement of ants… ”. But if you’re actually trying to help people get their work done, you’re more likely to put them to sleep.
Intricate numbering systems steal attention from the content instead of helping people to understand it; clear descriptive headings and well organized content will help your readers find what they need. And if time is money you’ll save both, as well as your readers’ sanity.
Here are some tips to help you avoid obscuring the content with outline numbering:
- If you have to number, only number first level headings, this way the numbering won’t confuse your readers and steal the impact of your second and third level headings.
- Avoid using more than three levels of headings and don’t use more than two levels of headings one after the other.
- Only give numbers or letters to paragraphs when they are sequential steps—in a procedure for example.
Headings that help
Headings that don’t help you find what you’re looking for might as well have not been there.
In business documents readers must be able to quickly find what they’re looking for and headings have to help them do that. Try these suggestions for helpful headings:
- Use questions the reader wants the answer to—for example, How do I reconcile the accounts? or What are my responsibilities?
- Use headings to signal the key message of the section—for example Never abuse customers or Always file reports.
- Avoid vague or cryptic headings.
- Avoid lumping unrelated topics under a broad, unspecific heading like General or Other.
- Use verb forms rather than nouns, they prompt action—for example Greeting clients or Changing printer cartridges.
- Use terms or phrases familiar to readers—ones they use at work.
As with most things, less is more. The fewer outline numbers, the more your readers will read.