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:When is it right to be wrong? From:"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 5 Apr 2002 14:49:30 -0500
Kelly Werner wonders: <<Is it justifiable to commit a MS Manual of Style
faux pas for the sake of user comprehension? I put the question to you, oh
counsel of elders, is it more important to be proper or understood?>>
It's obviously far more important to be understood. Don't forget that even
Microsoft doesn't have the hubris to call their style _guide_ a universal
book of _rules_. More to the point, I've found over the years of discussing
the guide with other editors and communicators that much of Microsoft's
advice is outright wrong, and where it's not wrong, it's often idiosyncratic
and arbitrary.
Bottom line: Use MS MoS as a guide if you do lots of Windows-related work,
but don't expect to agree with everything they recommend and don't feel
obliged to do so. In particular, rely on a good dictionary (American
Heritage is great if you're writing for Americans) rather than Microsoft for
word definitions.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"With Linux, customers end up being in the operating systems business,
managing software updates and security patches while making sure the
multitude of software packages don't conflict with each other."--Microsoft
spokesperson in a News.com article
"And just how would that be different from Windows?"--Adam Engst, TidBITS
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by April 30. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
Are you using Doc-to-Help or ForeHelp? Switch to RoboHelp for Word for $249
or to RoboHelp Office for only $499. Get the PC Magazine five-star rated
Help authoring tool for less! Go to http://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.
