Re: ANOTHER punctuation question

[Bev Lockhart <bl -at- SEATTLELAB -dot- COM>]

Arlen said:
>Local style question. What's your company style guide say?

I'm constantly developing and changing it.  There wasn't one before I
started here two years ago.  And I came from a journalism background where
we used the AP or UPI style guides (depending on the paper), so I find it
interesting to look at all the competing style guides for technical writing
out there.  There are so many different ways to present this stuff.  I just
try to think about it logically.

>Both constructions are common in the industry. However, if your audience is
>used to seeing it one way  and is suddenly confronted with another way,
it'll
>cause at least some momentary confusion.

 I always figure if I'm going to make
>my audience change their habits, I need a better reason than Because I
Want To.

I totally agree with you there.  My goal is to make things as easy and
clear as possible for my readers.  Since I'm really a major non-techie
(hey, I don't even know html or Robohelp; I have other people to do that
for me), it's a lot easier for me to pick up on concepts that the brains
around here think are understood and amplify them or clarify them.  (You
should see some of the looks I get from these engineers when I go talk to
them about features.  I have to remind myself that I'm not stupid, just
ignorant!)

~~~~~ Bev Lockhart, Doc Editor, Seattle Lab

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