RE: The second person in user guides

["Pamela Sarantos" <Pamela -dot- Sarantos -at- bigbandnet -dot- com>]

Hi,

My opinion is to write the style guide as you expect your documents to
be prepared.

This reinforces the style you want in your documents.

Thanks,
Pamela 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+pamela -dot- sarantos=bigbandnet -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+pamela -dot- sarantos=bigbandnet -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Sagendorph, Wallace
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 1:49 PM
To: List,Techwriter
Subject: The second person in user guides


A good fin-de-2005 to everyone:

The editorial staff where I work is preparing a comprehensive,
all-inclusive style manual that definitively (we hope) addresses all of
the weightier matters connected with document preparation. Because this
manual is primarily for editorial use and because most of our authors
will not bother to thumb through a 100+ -page tome looking for answers
to their writing-mechanics questions (an observation based, by the way,
on years of empirical data) we have also prepared a 27-page author's
companion guide that hits the common problems we encounter in usage,
punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, acronyms, references and
citations, and so on. 

Some have suggested that to engage the readers, we should write the
companion guide in a breezy, casual style using the second person ("you
should do this," you should not do that," "your document should
include," blah, blah). Others say this is tantamount to an approval of
such usage in formal documents, and is unnecessary in any event --- the
imperative mood ("do this," "don't do that") works as well or better,
and it does not imply that "you" and "your" should find their way into
documents released to publications or the public.  

Your comments (;>) please.

Wallace

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 2005 now has RoboHelp Converter and HTML Source: Author 
content and configure Help in MS Word or any HTML editor. No 
proprietary editor! *August release.
http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as
Pamela -dot- Sarantos -at- bigbandnet -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/pamela.sarantos%40big
bandnet.com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 2005 now has RoboHelp Converter and HTML Source: Author
content and configure Help in MS Word or any HTML editor. No
proprietary editor! *August release. http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.