RE: [libreoffice-users] Writing large or complex documents

Kracked Press wrote:

> I see the postings about the complexity of the documents, but I have not
seen any info about the size of the documents that are part of the
"writing large" statement.

Document length does not correlate with document complexity.

> But how many pages in the document would be considered as the low end for "large
document"?

That depends upon the type of document.

When I did a cut and paste, the tables collapsed.

Words per document.

The first line is, with three exceptions, the number of words in the
document. The three exceptions are words per page.
Words are calculating using standard printing metrics.
The second line is the type of document.

0-100
FictionFactor Micro-fiction
0-7,500
SF Short Story
100-1,000
FictionFactor Flash fiction
250
Words per page for fiction
400
Words per page for academia
832
Words per page, single spaced
1,000
F100 Short Article
1,000-1,500
Length of a ten minute sermon
1,000-2,500
F1000 Medium Article
1,000-7,500
FictionFactor Short story
2,500 – 8,000
F1000 Long Article
4,000-7,000
Kindle candy
8,000-15,000
F1000 Maximum Length Article
17,500-40,000
SF Novella
20,000-30,000
Middle Grade Essay
20,000-50,000
FictionFactor Novella
40,000-50,000
Upper Middle Grade Essay
40,000-60,000
SF Novel from 1960s
40,000-80,000
SF Novel from 1970s
45,000-50,000
How To books
50,000
Comprehensive Report
50,000-110,000
FictionFactor Novel
55,000-90,000
Young Adult Fiction
60,000-70,000
Length of a mystery
64,531
Amazon: median length of all books
7,500-17,500
SF Novelette
7,500-20,000
FictionFactor Novelette
70,000-115,000
Adult Fiction
80000
Young Adult SF Novel 2010
90,000-120,000
SF Novel 2015
100,000
PhD Dissertation
100,000
Number of good words that writer writes per year
100,000-115,000
Science Fiction Novel 2010
110,000–10,000,000
Epic Fiction
200,000
Biography
240,000
Short Mega-novel
300,000
Number of words a writer writes per year
1000000
Average length mega-novel

As such, if you treat software documentation as a "How-To" manual, the
target is roughly 50,000 words.

The caveat is how the target audience is, and why the documentation is
being written.

> that included graphics/photos and other options that makes the document complex one,

Graphics, tables, charts, and illustrations make for complex documents.

> SO, is there any consensus on where is the line drawn for this document
is a large one and this other is not?

Pages per Document

The first line is the number of pages in the document.
The second line is the type of document.
The third line is where that document is used/found.(Document Aim)

1
Cover Letter
Article submission, job application, etc
1
Press Release
Brief information for a broad audience
1
Editorial Preface
Short summary of an issue
1
General Article
Education of the wider public
2
Curriculum Vitae
Career summary
3
IGAS Short
Double spaced short Report
5
Patent
Protection of technical innovation
10
Research Article
Presentation of primary, original results
10
IGAS Standard
Double spaced report
10
Number of pages of a short story
Short Story
15
Training report
Education
15
HAWU Report
Double spaced report
20
Review Article
Review of Knowledge in a domain
20
Expert Report
Analysis of Knowledge
25
IGAS Long Report
Double Spaced report
30
Industrial Report
Research & Development
100
Book
Education
200
Thesis
Research

> Does anyone know any "official"reference about this?

For those two tables, I didn't write down my sources. I started
collecting the information, purely for my own use and benefit.
In theory, I could locate the sources, using either _Google Search_ or
_Google Scholar_.

> that was required to use by writers to be taken as a "professional" in whatever field of study. 

Virtually every field of study has its own style manual. _The Chicago
Manual of Style_ is the usual fallback, for style manuals
developed in, or for the United States. Usually, but not always, the
style manual will state which edition is to be followed.
When a specific edition is not provided, editors get into big fights.

> not know what the new standards are or what is considered a large document and not a "normal 
> sized" one.

The working assumption of current technical documentation manuals, is
that the content will be presented online.
As such, page length is ignored.

jonathon

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