Re: "Guide" vs. "Guidelines"

Subject: Re: "Guide" vs. "Guidelines"
From: Ben Kovitz <bkovitz -at- nethere -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 04:20:57 -0700


Joe wrote:

> My confusion: mixing socalled best practices with procedures creates a
> Frankensteinish conglomeration. I am looking for help in how to create a
> distinction between these two concepts. Any thoughts?

One possible solution:

Section 1: The rules/procedures/whatever
Section 2. Techniques/guidelines/best practices/whatever

Section 1 just lays down the law in a form suitable for reference,
maybe with some examples to make it easier to read.

Section 2 covers various specific types of situations that come up,
and shows good ways to handle them, without insinuating that they're
the only ways. In contrast to section 1, this section is *extremely*
example-heavy, and very light on telling the reader what general
conclusion to draw. The wording is less definite, relying on phrases
like "You could try this:"

So the document distinguishes the two types of content by section, by
title, by content, and by style.

A wonderful example of this kind of breakdown is the book _The Awk
Programming Language_ by Aho, Kernighan, and Weinberger.


Ben Kovitz
Author, Practical Software Requirements: A Manual of Content & Style
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1884777597
http://www.manning.com/Kovitz

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References:
"Guide" vs. "Guidelines": From: Joe

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