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I don't know what's been said about this topic, but my own takes is: you make your own rules--whatever rules work, whatever reads best for your audience/context; trust your own intuitions, but seek and accept feedback when uncertain (well, accept feedback even when you're certain). "Authorities" (style guides, teachers, bosses, "industry standards") other people (cf. Sartre, who was really writing about tech writers when he said, "Hell is other people...") or created by people, useful while you're getting your bearings, and thereafter still intermittently useful.
Once you embrace that, ignore it: it's full of holes.
At 10:08 AM 5/15/97 -0700, Floramaria Deter wrote:
>I purchased _The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications_
>because of the great reviews the members of this list gave this book. I
>have found it very helpful and informative, but I am questioning how
>*accurate* it is. I have been working as a student assistant/technical
>writer so I have been instructed on how to write a certain way. For
>example, I have been told to write "click on the button" but according to
>the Manual of Style book, the correct way is to write "click the button."
>There are many other rules that I've been breaking left and right.
>
>How accurate is this book? Should I take what the book says with a grain
>of salt? Does this book reflect the industry's standard? Or are these
>technical writing "rules" one company's opnion?
>
>Thanks...Flora :)
>
>PS-If this topic has been exhausted, could someone please email me personally?
>----------------------------------------------------------
>* FLORA DETER...VISIT FLORA'S HIDEOUT!!!! *
>* Email: fmc -at- netcom -dot- com http://www.deter.com/flora *
>* Motto: The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to *
>* suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live. *
>* - From Ayn Rand's _Atlas Shrugged_ *
>----------------------------------------------------------
>
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