TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE: A tech editor seeks advice on which style guide to adopt
Subject:RE: A tech editor seeks advice on which style guide to adopt From:"Latella, Vincent" <VINCENT -dot- LATELLA -at- saic -dot- com> To:<TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:04:10 -0400
Praneeta, is there any reason that you're not considering IBM's style guide?
Recently a fellow TECHWR-Ler provided a link to it, so it *was* free and easily available, but for some reason I don't see it now when I go to the same page:
In any case, I found their guide nicely indexed easy to follow.
(And on another note, is anyone else able to see the guide where it was listed on that page, because I am *not.*)
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+vincent -dot- latella=saic -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+vincent -dot- latella=saic -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of praneeta p
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:30 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: A tech editor seeks advice on which style guide to adopt
Hi All,
Recently, in one of our doc team meetings, my manager asked me to come to a formal decision on which style guide we should adopt as the bible for our team. And as it goes with managers, I have to justify my decision.
So far, the writers have been using MSTP (Microsoft Style for Technical Publications) for two reasons:
1. It is easily available.
2. and free.
I rather like Sun's Read Me First. The rationale appeals to me. The recommendations in their sound like recommendations and are less dictatorial than the MSTP.
I would like to know which style guide would be best for web-based applications?
Is MSTP really only for Windows-based apps or can it be adopted for web-based apps too?
Which style guide (Sun's or MSTP) is likely to be adopted easily by the writers? That is not to say that I will take the path of least resistance if one or the other wins in merit versus ease of adoption.
Kindly advise.
Best always,
Praneeta Paradkar
Add whatever you love to the Yahoo! India homepage. Try now! http://in.yahoo.com/trynew
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as VINCENT -dot- LATELLA -at- saic -dot- com -dot-
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
