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Subject:Re; Punctuation Tips From:Tom Mereen <tom -dot- mereen -at- ECTI -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 3 Jun 1999 10:42:08 -0500
Tom Johnson wrote:
"You seem to presume that all tech writers are from the US. Consequently, I think an industry-standard styleguide is a terrible idea. Since most tech writers do reside in the US, it would no doubt use US-based spelling and punctuation . . ."
I Disagree.
When I work for an aviation company, they were part of an international team that developed a "Simplified English and Style Guide". This document covered English usage and documentation styles to comply with ATA-100 and ATA-101 aviation specifications. I believe representatives were from Canada, England, France, Italy, Japan, and the US. (Probably others that I missed.)
Of course, how often do you see the major players within an industry get together to develop such a style guide?