Re: Car repair manuals: standards?

[eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com]

"Sandy Harris" <sandyinchina -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote on 08/21/2006 10:36:33 PM:
> Are there gov't standards for docs on the vehicles they buy? What
> about military?

Well, if you're looking for standards, there's always S1000D (
http://www.s1000d.org/):
<<This Specification has been produced to establish standards for the 
documentation of any civil or military vehicle or equipment. It is based 
on international standards such as SGML/XML and CGM for production and use 
of electronic documentation.>>
XML to boot and Adobe was promoting an imminent release of a plug-in to 
support a S1000D workflow similar (identical) to the promised and 
demonstrated DITA plug-in.
Now, whether a military standard designed for standardisation, storage, 
and distribution translates well to a general public audience is another 
matter entirely.
The combination of documentation standards with illustration standards 
gives me the heebie geebies (CGMs are a royal pain and massively 
expensive) and the fatuous claim of "based on international standards" 
riles me considering that SGML/XML compliance offers no guarantee of good 
organisation or presentation. No more so than state of the art binding 
guarantees good writing.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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