Every chapter consists of more than one section. Reserve the first section for a “mini overview” of what follows inside the chapter.
Here are the structural components of each SECTION (but all do not need to be present in every section):
1) Introductory section-overview sentence.
2) Description of a feature, component, or a system.
3) PROCEDURAL TASK(s). A set of NUMBERED STEPS to be followed to accomplish a task.
4) TABLE TITLE followed by TABLE(s).
5) FIGURE CAPTION followed (or preceded) by FIGURE(s) (read the HOT TIP below). A “figure” can be a photo, illustration, drawing, a chart or graph, a screen-shot, etc.
HOT TIP: If you will generate a PDF document out of your source file, any link pointing at the Figure Caption creates a usability problem. Why? Because when you click on a PDF link, it takes you to the linked page and displays the linked figure caption at the TOP of the page. That means you’ll be looking at a caption WITHOUT a figure! That’s because the figure itself is left outside the screen and to see it you need to SCROLL UP each and every time. If you click on a number of such figure caption links it gets annoying after a while to scroll up to see the figures.
That’s why I recommend placing your figure captions BEFORE a figure, just like you would with a table title, so that when the document is converted into PDF, those who click a link and go to a figure would not have to scroll up to see the figure. In such an arrangement, the figure would be right UNDERNEATH the figure caption, saving the readers from the trouble of scrolling up.
6) BULLETED list(s).
7) If you need to leave a page blank at the end of the chapter because the next chapter starts on a right-side and odd-numbered page, add this note to the blank page: “This page is left blank intentionally for double-sided printing.” If you don’t do that a number of your readers will write back to you to make you aware of your “error.”
8) If you have left a space after the TITLE for a mini TOC (Table of Contents), go back to the beginning of your chapter and generate the CHAPTER TOC.
