Ten Commandments of Documenting

I write and review documents for a living. Over the hundreds of documents that I have seen and read there are a few things that drive me mad and that are a simple fix. If you want your documenting to be good or even great, these are some of things that you should follow

The Ten Commandments of Documentation

1. Page Numbers - my document will have page numbers of every page.
2. Revision History - my document will have a clean and clear revision history which will include a brief summary of the change made and the date the change was made.
3. Versioning - my document will have a version number that will match the revision history and revision date.
4. Header - my document will have a header that will clearly state the title of the document, the version number and the date the document was published.
5. References - my document will have references clearly marked
6. Fonts and Style - my document will be consitent with the use of styles provided by word and will ensure that the Font is consistent.
7. Table of Contents - my document will have table of contents that will have links that will be hot links - links into the document. The reader can click on the link from the TOC and be taken to the correct place in the document
8. Labels - my document will have clear labels for all the figures, tables and charts included in the document. There will be no orphans.
9. Reference and Glossary - my document will have a section that lists all the references and a glossary for new terms and abbreviations used.
10. Content- my document will have content that is not stated multiple times, is easy to understand and has been organized in a simple easy to read fashion.