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Subject:RE: MOS leaves me confused on this one..... From:Kim Roper <kim -dot- roper -at- vitana -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 27 Oct 2000 13:02:54 -0400
I've had problems with people vetoing styles that have more than one rule.
Bulleted lists are the classic example from my last job (in marketing).
Me: "Why did you change the list to leading caps?"
VP: "That's what you did on <flip, flip> this page."
[I explain the CMS guidelines.]
"Doesn't matter, the caps give it more impact."
"Fine. Consistency is good. Now, why did you add semicolons to the ends of
this parts list?"
"I like them. I've always done it that way. My grade eight teacher
taught us to do it that way and nobody has complained before now."
"Fine ..." [And nobody here hired a technical writer before me ...]
*sigh*
Consistency with contingency gets 'em every time.
Cheers ... Kim
-----Original Message-----
From: Barry Kieffer [mailto:bkieffer -at- ims -dot- com]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 12:35 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: MOS leaves me confused on this one.....
Greetings Mike,
There is no true *standard* on this. Look instead to your internal style
guide
to be consistent through your book.
Opinion 1: If any item in your bulleted list is a complete sentence or has
punctuation such as commas, colons, etc, leaving the period off of the end
looks
silly, kinda like you forgot.
Opinion 2: Having some bullets or bulleted lists without periods, and some
with,
also looks unfinished.
Pick a standard and be consistent through your book. It is better to be
consistent than correct (in most cases).
> From: m w <tech_mw -at- yahoo -dot- com>
>
> When is it appropriate to place a period after an item
> in a bulleted list? Complete sentences only?
>
> TIA,
> mike w.
Regards,
Barry Kieffer
Senior Technical Writer
Integrated Measurement Systems, Inc.
Portland, Oregon
Cube: 564
Phone: 1.503.469.3615
Email: bkieffer -at- ims -dot- com
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