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Subject:RE: Lead-in to software documentation? From:"Gottlieb, Lynn" <Lynn -dot- Gottlieb -at- PSS -dot- Boeing -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>, "'Gunther Schmidt'" <g -dot- schmidt -at- bigfoot -dot- com> Date:Mon, 26 Jun 2000 15:28:26 -0700
Gunther,
Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry (AKA the Sun Style Guide) should be perfect for you. I like it better than the Microsoft guide. It's not so big (like the Chicago Manual of Style) that it'll intimidate you. And it has a CD so you can see the FrameMaker files used to create the book.
It's about $30US (bought at my neighborhood non-chain bookstore--I like to shop at local stores).
Lynn Gottlieb
Technical Writer
The Boeing Company
> ----------
> From: Gunther Schmidt[SMTP:g -dot- schmidt -at- bigfoot -dot- com]
> Reply To: Gunther Schmidt
> Sent: Monday, June 26, 2000 12:22 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Lead-in to software documentation?
>
> Techwhirlers,
>
> I'm a technical writer in a German mechanical engineering company. A
> new task contains a short software documentation which will be
> printed. The software (which runs under Windows NT 4.0) is used to
> control a video inspection system via keyboard and touchscreen.
>
> Are there any web ressources for those who are new to software
> documentation? I've heard of the Sun and Microsoft Style Guides and
> the Chicago Manual of Style, but I assume that these are too detailed
> for beginners. References on standards and some recommendations on how
> to format the text for commands, messages, button descriptions, dialog
> box entries etc. would be very helpful for me!
>
> Regards,
>
> Gunther Schmidt
