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Subject:Re: Windows Documentation Style Guide From:Charles Good <good -at- AUR -dot- ALCATEL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 21 Dec 1995 21:00:44 GMT
The "Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications" is probably
good for addressing "paper" documents such as user guides and reference
manuals. However, more and more Windows documentation is going to online
help screens and CD-ROM libraries. Therefore, you should also look into
guides that address the online documentation style considerations.
Microsoft offers a 500-page document entitled, "Microsoft Windows Help
Authoring Guide." It is available off their unsupported tools development
CD. You might try to find a Windows application developer and get him to
print a copy of the manual.
They also offer some other interesting reading under the Microsoft Windows 3.1
Software Developers Kit (SDK). I recommend reading the "Windows Interface: An
Application Design Guide." It addresses interface design considerations and
principles that writers and human factors engineers should be aware of.