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.
Subject:Re: Style Guides: Where to begin? From:"Dick Margulis" <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 13 Jul 2001 08:58:29 -0400
"Balchunas, John" wrote:
Some of the questions I'm hoping to answer
>include:
>
> * Generally speaking, how large of a document are style guides?
The general approach is to "manage by exceptions." That means that you select a preferred dictionary and choose a published style guide, such as the Chicago Manual of Style (there are other choices) and make those the basic company references. Then you supplement them with other published guides for special circumstances. For example, The Associate Press style guide trumps Chicago when you are preparing news releases (not your situation, I know). And Microsoft Manual of Style is helpful for Windows interface-specific terminology.
Next you prepare a list of the items where the style guides leave it up to your discretion. This is the place to exercise discretion by saying, "In this company, we do it like so."
That document should be only a few pages. But we're not done yet.
>
> * What is the scope? What topics need to be addressed in order
> for a style guide to properly function?
>
List words that you hyphenate or don't hyphenate (e-mail? email? on-line? online?).
Say whether you use serial commas.
Discuss the construction and punctuation of bulleted lists.
Specify any standards regarding procedures (standard introductory phrasing, standard table designs, etc.)
Point out problems that you see often (log in vs. login).
Cover use of company name, product names, trademarks, copyrights.
Discuss the importance of using the reference books.
Others will jump in with things I've forgotten about.
> * What Frame specific information needs to be included? I would
> assume I'd want to address the paragraph/character tags, master
> pages, etc.., but should I address any plug-ins we use, any
> tricks we've found, resources we use such as listservs, etc..?
>
This really isn't part of a style guide. What you are talking about is the user guide for your carefully constructed template. By all means create this, but keep it separate from the style guide, which should be something that is useful throughout the company, not just in the tech writing department.
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
