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I can't second Lisa's recommendation enough. Don't build what you can buy.
IMHO, the local style guide should be less than four pages -- an 11x17 sheet
folded once. It's very hard to come up with that many "local" exceptions to
well-established guides.
Signed... a veteran of several well-hated style guide committees,
Art
Art Campbell
Technical Publications
Northchurch Communications
Five Corporate Drive
Andover, MA 01810
978 691-6344
-----Original Message-----
From: Higgins, Lisa [mailto:LHiggins -at- CARRIERACCESS -dot- COM]
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 1999 1:16 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: writing a corporate style guide from scratch
Don't reinvent the wheel. Start out with an established style guide, then
address deviations, additions, and company-specific issues in a separate
document.
I'd recommend Chicago personally, but you could use just about anything you
want, really. Sun, Wired, and Microsoft all have non-prescription,
over-the-counter style guides, for example.
