RE: Style and Procedure Schema?

[Sue Ahrenhold <SAhrenhold -at- IpdSolution -dot- com>]

>>Extrapolation (What it means to technical writers):
>>Suppose a working group of technical writers got together and developed
>>a universal schema for something we all use: Style and Procedure
>>manuals. Now, granted, no two industries or companies have the same
>>CONTENT in their TW Style and Procedure manuals, but they all have the
>>same TYPES of content and they could be structured very similarly. What
>>would happen if every Style Manual or Procedure Manual for technical
>>writers followed the same template and order of content?

Although we may not know it, and certainly may not admit it, a LOT of this
is already taking place under the XML initiatives.  There are standard XML
templates for many industries; the most well known of them is, of course,
DocBook. Although many people use it badly, it can be incredibly powerful.

Some of this may not filter down to smaller companies, but it is definitely
there.

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