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I recommend you grab a copy of the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical
Publications *or* some other such reference.
Although, your co-workers ought trust your judgement on such issues (as you
defer to their expertise, so should they, to yours). Indeed, I feel the
style is mine to set . . . although, if questioned my defence is better when
shored-up with the "published" work by *another* author . . . go figure.
To answer your questions in light of the Microsoft book:
Use online not on-line and offline not off-line.
Avoiding hyphens is preferred unless confusion results. Thus, use subsystem.
For Microsoft systems, drop-down is preferred to pull-down. Apple uses the
latter term, however. A hyphen is used.
Good luck.
Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Joy Owen [mailto:jowen2 -at- CSC -dot- COM]
>>>Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 1999 9:07 AM
>>>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>>>Subject: Hyphenation
>>>
>>>If anyone knows of a document that lists the
>>>correct spelling
>>>method, I'd like to see it.
>>>
>>>on-line vs online and off-line vs offline
>>>sub-system vs subsystem
>>>pull-down menu vs pulldown menu
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>
>>>Joy Owen
>>>Technical Writer
>>>Computer Sciences Corporation
>
