Prefatory Material Diana Patterson People use books in vastly different ways. S o m e start at the front, s o m e at the back, and s o m e open to a r a n d o m place and begin to read. I have noticed that very few people ever read anything before "Chapter I." This was brought h o m e to m e recently w h e n I read a book which had and 1. Z. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. a dedication, an advertisement, a table of contents, a preface, appendices (A & B) to the Preface, a preface to the Third Edition, an Introduction. P r e f a t o r y m a t e r i a l s h o u l d i d e n t i f y t h e m a n u a l for ordering purposes, reference p u r p o s e s , a n d j u s t for reading purposes. Even an "in-house" publication should d e s c r i b e e x a c t l y who p r o d u c e d t h e m a n u a l (and w h e r e ) , a n d g i v e a p u b l i c a t i o n d a t e . T h e t i t l e s h o u l d c l e a r l y : (1) a s s o c i a t e t h i s m a n u a l w i t h o t h e r s in t h e s e r i e s , a n d (Z) d i s t i n g u i s h it f r o m o t h e r s . T w o - p a r t n a m e s s e p a r a t e d b y a c o l o n will u s u a l l y do t h i s well. T h e r e s h o u l d be a n abstract, a table of contents, and some description of t h e a u d i e n c e for w h i c h t h e m a n u a l is i n t e n d e d - - t h i s includes the other publications you expect the audience to h a v e r e a d or h a v e a v a i l a b l e . This is o n l y f a i r to t h e reader. C o n t e n t s a n d f i g u r e s s h o u l d be l i s t e d w i t h t w o p u r p o s e s in m i n d : (1) to h e l p a r e a d e r to d e t e r m i n e if t h i s is i n d e e d t h e b o o k h e w a n t s ; a n d (Z) to h e l p h i m find a l a r g e s e g m e n t o f m a t e r i a l (but a t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s is n e v e r a r e p l a c e m e n t for a n index!). If t h i s is n o t a f i r s t e d i t i o n , t h e r e a d e r s h o u l d be i n f o r m e d in a s u m m a r y h o w m u c h o f a c h a n g e t h i s e d i t i o n is f r o m t h e o l d o n e he h a s . All o f t h i s a s s u m e s an i n t e l l i g e n t r e a d e r w h o k n o w s t h a t he c a n u s e i n f o r m a t i o n a t t h e f r o n t to m a k e decisions about reading this manual or not. There must be m a n y readers w h o never scan the Table of Contents to get a sense of a manual's structure, and m a n y m o r e who never read a Preface. O n e of those system p r o g r a m m e r s w h o are good at editing documents once suggested that I m o v e most of "the junk" at the front of a manual to the back, since no one reads it anyway, and m o v e the Index to the front. This s e e m s like a valid idea for a reference manual. M y personal reaction to moving Prefatory Material to the middle or the end is "No." I have gradually become used to department store catalogues with indices in the middle, but I don't like them. W h e n I c a m e across one the other day in a reference book, I was relieved -- I had found none in the back, and assumed the book didn't have one. Innovation is wonderful and I'm all for it, but there is something to be said for convention. A n d in a manual no one is ever g o i n g to r e a d f r o m c o v e r to c o v e r , c o n v e n t i o n is p r o b a b l y b e s t , b e c a u s e o t h e r w s i e y o u ' l l h a v e to g e t s o m e o n e to r e a d "How to U s e T h i s M a n u a l . " Then at the end, there was an afterword that claimed it should have been a preface, but was placed at the back for people w h o always read the last chapter first. Clearly the author had s o m e message(s) to convey before you read the body of his book, and he tried everything in his power to get you to listen to him. But I'm sure for s o m e readers it was all in vain. W h a t should be in the front of a manual, and what should it convey? Information placed before the ubiquitous Chapter I should be material that describes the book as a whole. One A manual I picked up had: title page with: manual reference numbers; title; an abstract; a list o f a p p l i c a b l e r e l e a s e s ; pre-requisite manuals; co-requisite manuals; A p a g e b a c k i n g it w h i c h d e s c r i b e d t h e e d i t i o n , and general publication notes, copyright, and date; Preface (repeating re-requisite and co-requisite publications); Table of Contents; List of Figures; and Summary of Amendments. It is u n l i k e l y t h a t cares about it. more anyone reads this material, or e v e n A n o t h e r p r e f a t o r y p i e c e b e i n g i n c l u d e d in m o r e a n d p u b l i c a t i o n s is "How to U s e T h i s M a n u a l " a n d e v e n I h a v e to f o r c e m y s e l f to r e a d t h e s e . Or y o u c o u l d t r y a d e d i c a t i o n , a n a d v e r t i s e m e n t , a T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s N o t e , a P r e f a c e , a n A p p e n d i x to t h e Preface, a Preface to t h e T h i r d E d i t i o n , a n d a n I n t r o d u c t i o n ; or m a y b e an A f t e r w o r d . B u t if t h e u s e r s t i l l w o n ' t r e a d i t , why, i t ' s b e s t to do t h i n g s t h e w a y h e ' s a c c u s t o m e d to s e e t h e m . - Z4 -

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