TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Microsoft Style Guide From:"Mark L. Levinson" <nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 02 Mar 2002 14:24:16 +0200
You can blame me and my ilk. When applications software
became a big business, a lot of us technical writers
were attracted by the idea of consistency and repelled
by the idea of reinventing the wheel, and we heard that
at Microsoft there was a company style guide. If we
could get a copy of that, we thought, we could
finesse dozens of trivial decisions avoid unnecessary
idiosyncrasy.
The Microsoft style guide started circulating
underground, like Bob Dylan's basement tapes, and
eventually Microsoft made the same decision that
Dylan did: though the material wasn't intended
for the public, better to release it under supervision
than to have pirate editions circulating.
So Microsoft didn't conceive the idea of foisting
its style guide on the technical writing community;
on the contrary, we (=sob=) wanted it.
Guiltily,
Mark L. Levinson
Herzlia, Israel
nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now's a great time to buy RoboHelp! You'll get SnagIt screen capture
software and a $200 onsite training voucher FREE when you buy RoboHelp
Office or RoboHelp Enterprise. Hurry, this offer expires February 28, 2002. www.ehelp.com/techwr
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
