DEVELOPING A DEPARTMENTAL STYLE GUIDE

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DEVELOPING A DEPARTMENTAL STYLE GUIDE

• Article By Jean Hollis Weber
• Presented By Charles Steinert
• November 10, 2005

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What is a style guide?

• A style guide is a reference document that
  includes rules and suggestions for writing style
  and document presentation.
• They often specify an option to chose when more
  then one option is available.
• They include items that are specific to the
  company or industry and items for which a
  "standard" or example does not exist through
  commercial style guides

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Why use a style guide?

• To ensure that documents conform to corporate
  image and policy
• To inform new writers and editors of an existing
  style
• To define which style issues are negotiable
• To improve consistency within and among documents
  

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• To remove the necessity to reinvent the wheel for
  every new project
• To remind the writer of style decisions for each
  project
• To serve as part of the specifications for the
  deliverables, when writing for clients outside
  your company or when outsourcing writing projects

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What topics should not be in a style guide?

• Process information or how things are done within
  a company or organization.
• Design information or what document should look
  like
• Grammar and writing tutorials
• Rationale for decisions

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What topics should be in a style guide?

• The version of English to use (American, British,
  or others)
• The system of measurement to use (American,
  Imperial, Metric, or others)
• Any existing company reference materials
• Which template to use for each type of document
• The style of punctuation to use especially for
  lists

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• The minimum level of information to include in a
  particular type of document
• The style to use for cross-references or
  clickable links
• Whether illustrations and tables always need
  captions, or under what circumstances captions
  are required
• When to use various types of highlighting
• When to spell out numbers and when to use
  numerals the use of commas, spaces, or other
  punctuation in numbers over 999

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• Word use including company-specific or
  product-specific terms acronyms and
  abbreviations
• Acceptable jargon, and the spelling,
  capitalization, and hyphenation of names and
  terms
• How pages are numbered (sequentially throughout,
  or by chapter)
• Special requirements for the audience

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Do you need one style guide or more than one?

• Some organizations may need only one style guide
  that covers all of their publications
• Others may need more then one
• It depends on the variety of work/fields that an
  organization participates in.

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How detailed should a style guide be?

• A style guide can be as short as a single page
  listing variations from a commercially available
  guide
• It can be quite lengthy if it contains detailed
  specifications of topic content
• Mainly it depends on how much the styles deviate
  from those included commercial style guides, the
  types of information products your company
  delivers, and how many different elements those
  information products include

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Summary

• Style guides include rules and suggestions for
  writing style and document presentation
• Style guides often specify which option to use
  when several options exist, and they include
  items that are specific to the company or
  industry
• Style guides can be of any length and level of
  detail however, they should exclude process and
  design information, tutorials, and decision
  rationale

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References

• Jean Hollis Weber Developing a Departmental
  Style Guide.
• http//www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/writin
  g/styleguide.html