I need a good book, any recommendations?

Subject: I need a good book, any recommendations?
From: Art Kampmeier <akampmeier -at- PROBUSINESS -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 09:18:41 -0700

Hi,

I'm in the process of re-writing software documentation (which was never
actually released), and have found inconsistencies in style and wording.
I bought the MS Manual of Style last week, hoping that it would be the
answer to all of my questions. From briefly looking at it I can tell
that referring to it will add consistency to the terminology used.

I also appreciate Microsoft throwing in the complete style manual as a
Winhelp file. I've linked it to a button on my Word Toolbar, and "help"
is only a click away!

However, I'm looking for more! I've never written a software manual
before (I'm new to the Tech Writing profession). Can anyone recommend a
good book on how to write software documentation, from start to finish?
Design, layout, etc., etc..

Finally, the current documentation is written in MS Word. It looks like
the template and format styles were custom designed by the last writer.
While I don't know if I want to go through and change all of the
formatting for the documents already created, I'd like to prepare for
the time when I have to develop documents from the ground up. Is there
an official or unofficial Microsoft Software documentation template, and
if not, can anyone recommend (or better yet, send me) a template that
they've used?

Thanks in advance.

Art Kampmeier
akampmeier -at- probusiness

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