Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors, Second Edition

Chapter 8Organization

Without order there is only chaos, and nothing constructive can evolve from chaos except order.

—Duncan Head

Organization is how pieces of information fit together to form a coherent arrangement of parts that makes sense to the user.

Organization applies both to the arrangement of information within a topic and to the arrangement of two or more topics (how topics fit together). You can build up larger structures by fitting together the parts. For example, you build paragraphs with sentences; you build topics with paragraphs, lists, tables, and graphics; and you build information centers, Web sites, help systems, and ...