Best practices for TOC, versus PROJ title, filename

[tcbdon]

I am seeking "best practice" help from the forum. Say a TOC is to have numbers as part of the organization, 1,2,3...and topics will be sub-numbered (as in 1.1, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, etc). I am not aware of any way to automatically manage this, they must be explicitly typed in the TOC editor.

I have heard some say that the "view" in the Project should mirror the view in the TOC. That would imply that folder organization, filenames and titles would be in sync with the TOC, and also include the section/chapter numbering.

If you have to make a change and resequence things, or insert a new chapter between 2 and 3 then there is a LOT of work to do.

I am leaning in the direction of having filenames and titles be separate from the TOC structure, and not use Field[title] in the documents to simplify the update process. This would also simplify updating links within the documents.

However, I am still pretty new with Robo and don't have the seasoning some of you have with long term effects of particular organization.

Any help, or best practices that can be shared?

Thanks!

Don

[RoboColum_n_]

Don. The idea of having the TOC structure exactly mirror the file/folder structure is desirable but not IMO sacrosanct. With your scenario I see no problem with having the files/folders with the numerical sequence but the TOC without. The main reason for wanting to structure the topics is ease of maintainance. As long as your TOC book name is easily identifiable with a folder I don't see what the problem is. Of course, the real question is will your users feel comfortable with a TOC structure that is different from a topic title?

[tcbdon]

Thanks for your input Colum,

I am actually considering the opposite of your comment - to have numbering in the TOC but NOT with the Project folders. I consider the TOC much more volatile and flexible than the folder structure. As long as one knows what goes with what. So the good news is there is not a sacrosanct line drawn between the project names and structure and that in the TOC. This helps. If I have to resequence section 2 and section 5, I mainly just change the TOC. I would not have to move or rename any folders in the Project view.

The other part, using the document title (in the topic properties) to automatically update the topic title in the text I like quite a bit and I think can make the case with my peers. That offers a lot of flexibility. As in the above mentioned resequencing, I would have to access the properties for each topic in the project folder that used to be in section 2, and edit the document title to reflect its new position in section 5 (and vice versa). That is pretty straightforward. I do NOT have to rename all those folders and files in the Project view.

Thanks again for chiming in.

Don