Re: A tech editor seeks advice on which style guide to adopt

[Patricia Egan <capdev -dot- communications -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I have never found the *current* edition of MSTP available for free. I find
it handy when writing about Windows UI. Otherwise, I prefer Sun's READ ME
FIRST!, which should be available in an updated version in November.
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780137058280

Although IBM no longer posts its style guide online, you might well like to
check the Apple Publications Style Guide, September 2008:
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/APStyleGuide/APSG_2008.pdf

For citations, I recommend APA.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/apastyle.pdf

For general matters of grammar and usage, I like the St. Martin's Handbook,
by Andrea A. Lunsford,
http://bedfordstmartins.com/newcatalog.aspx?disc=English&course=Composition&isbn=0312594542

Cheers,
Pat

Patricia Egan, MS
Instructor, Technical Communication
UC Berkeley Extension

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 2:29 AM, praneeta p <praneeta_paradkar -at- yahoo -dot- com>wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Recently, in one of our doc team meetings, my manager asked me to come to a
> formal decision on which style guide we should adopt as the bible for our
> team. And as it goes with managers, I have to justify my decision.
>
> So far, the writers have been using MSTP (Microsoft Style for Technical
> Publications) for two reasons:
>
> 1. It is easily available.
> 2. and free.
>
> I rather like Sun's Read Me First. The rationale appeals to me. The
> recommendations in their sound like recommendations and are less dictatorial
> than the MSTP.
>
> I would like to know which style guide would be best for web-based
> applications?
>
> Is MSTP really only for Windows-based apps or can it be adopted for
> web-based apps too?
>
> Which style guide (Sun's or MSTP) is likely to be adopted easily by the
> writers? That is not to say that I will take the path of least resistance if
> one or the other wins in merit versus ease of adoption.
>
> Kindly advise.
>
> Best always,
>
> Praneeta Paradkar
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Patricia Egan
P. O. Box 194391
San Francisco, CA 94119-4391
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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