lc_bp_short.dita

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<!DOCTYPE learningContent PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Learning Content//EN" "learningContent.dtd">
<learningContent id="content_vdy_j3t_lt">
    <title>Use a reasonable number of steps</title>
    <prolog>
        <author href="http://www.scriptorium.com" scope="external" format="html">Simon Bate,
            Scriptorium</author>
        <critdates>
            <created date="2015-09-24"/>
        </critdates>
    </prolog>
    <learningContentbody>
        <lcIntro>
            <p>There is no technical limit to the number of steps you can have in a DITA task;
                however, the task should not be too long.</p>
            <p>Although the length of a task can be subjective, longer tasks with a large number of
                steps can seem overwhelming to readers (particularly novice readers).</p>
            <p>It is difficult to give an absolute rule for the maximum number of steps that you
                should have in a task. Some writers use a ten-step maximum, but allow for limited
                exceptions. Nearly everyone agrees that a procedure with more than twenty steps is
                highly problematic. </p>
            <p>An additional effect of longer tasks is that the reader may have difficulty keeping
                track of where they are when performing the task. This is even more true when there
                is a long list of very similar steps. </p>
            <p>Addressing shorter tasks: you may encounter some tasks that only require one or two
                steps. These might be unavoidable if the goal is <i>complete</i> coverage of a set
                of tasks. Although most of your tasks will probably be longer, there is absolutely
                nothing wrong with having a single-step or two-step task if necessary.</p>
        </lcIntro>
    </learningContentbody>
</learningContent>