Part labels and section labels

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When a dark-colored area is printed right to the edge of paper on each page, users can immediately see which pages a section spans. This even works when the manual is almost closed.

You can use this effect to indicate:

major sections of a manual

different languages in a multi-language manual

Note:
Part labels and section labels don’t work for manuals that are shipped electronically. These labels don’t work on screen, and they also don’t work when users print the documents on their office printers because standard office printers always leave a small page margin blank.

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Basic rules

Avoid marking too many sections. As a rule of thumb, don’t mark more than 7.

Each section should have enough pages so that readers can easily find it.

You don’t necessarily have to mark all of the sections that are in your document. For example, you could exclusively mark the sections that contain frequently needed reference information but leave basic conceptual information and procedures unmarked.

Clearly label the section markers so that readers immediately know what each section is about. This is especially important if you don’t use a running header or footer.

When possible, combine part labels or section labels with Separator pages because separator pages clearly visualize the beginning of each part or section.

Example


Separator pages

Designing: Separator page layout

Designing: Body page layout