DISCUSSION: Style Guide Use

[Beth Agnew <bagnew -at- INSYSTEMS -dot- COM>]

John Posada wrote, in part:

> What I'm getting a in a round-about way is that CMS and all of its
> brothers are only guides.  You ARE allowed to do things differently, you
> ARE allowed to use your imagination, and not everything that CMS states
> is law.

> Common, guys, let's show a little imagination and initiative.  By the
> time we've reached the qualification level when we are developing our
> company's style guides, we should have seen enough high-quality and low
> quality stuff to make our own decisions on what works and what doesn't.

I agree completely. Sometimes we need guides and rules to help us get
started, but once we've seen what's possible, it's up to us to take those
ideas, add our own, shape the whole thing into something that works for the
type of publication and the audience, and do the best we can. "Technical"
writing doesn't mean that everything has to be, um, by the numbers. There
is indeed room for creativity and imagination. (Just don't sacrifice
accuracy!)

On the other hand, I fully understand shops that have to base their actions
on some authoritative standard. And I'm just as glad I no longer work in a
company that requires some external authority to say bullets or rules or
dot leaders are "okay" before I can use them in a manual.

Being a competent writer is not just knowing exactly where to put the
commas, it's also knowing when to leave them out, for effect.

--Beth

Beth Agnew
Senior Technical Writer, InSystems Technologies Inc.
65 Allstate Parkway, Suite 100  Tel: (905) 513-1400 ext. 280
Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 9X1        Fax: (905) 513-1419
mailto:bagnew -at- insystems -dot- com    Visit us at: http://www.insystems.com


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