Style guides and other standards for manuals are useful tools. But like many other tools for technical writers, they don't necessarily encourage the writing of user-friendly. They may prescribe ...
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General style guides for English
The Chicago Manual of Style
It calls itself "an essential guide for writers, editors, and publishers" and discusses all kinds of documents, not specifically technical or scientific ones. It's available in almost any good bookstore in the U.S.
Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition (about 900 pages!) University of Chicago Press 11030 S. Langley Avenue Chicago, IL 60628 $40.00 + shipping ISBN 0-226-10389-7.
The GPO style guide
United States Government Printing Office Style Manual (= GPO manual) Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402 stock # 021-000-00120-1 (paper).
The GPO style guide is published by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. I do not have a copy at work so I don't have the ISBN number. I believe that the latest edition is 1985. I checked the D.C. phone book (I work near there) and found the following number for Orders & Inquiries 202-512-1800. When I called, they stated that I could Fax the inquiry or order using 202-512-2250. They are open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
It can be purchased from any (US) government bookstore. It cost about $20 (US). You will have to deal with the Government Printing Office to get the GPO Style Guide. As with most government agencies, the wait on the phone is long. I would suggest sending them a Fax to ask about the book.
General style guides for other languages
Danish:
Correct Danish is defined by "Dansk Sprognævn", which is an organisation
under the ministry for culture. Dansk Sprognævn defines the spelling,
hyphenation, etc. of the individual words, and the official grammar. Their
"advices" for correct written Danish are published by 2 private publishers:
Industry oriented style guides or standards
Software:
The Microsoft Manual of Style is published by Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052. The ISBN number is 1-55615-939-0.
Outside North America please write to: Microsoft Press International Sales One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 or FAX 01-206-936-7329 $24.95 + shipping.
Outside the US, it is available, too, through the local Microsoft book sales outlets, see http://www.microsoft.com/MSPRESS/BOOKS/b_vbs.htm
Microsoft's glossaries in many non-English languages are available from: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/msdn/newup/glossary/ .
From: John Cornellier <John_Cornellier_at_STRM__Velizy1@STREAM.COM> Subject: MS Style Guide in French and German
The GUI Guide
International Terminology for the Win Interface (European Edition) MS Press, 1993, ISBN 1-55615-538-7.
It provides, according to
the intro: "An overview of terms for which MS has standard translations;
guidelines for localizing menus & assigning access & shortcut keys;
standard translations for essential GUI elements in Czech, Danish, Dutch,
Finnish, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian,
Spanish." There's a companion disk which lists translations. You can cut
& paste reduce typos. Be sure to check that your (usually longer) translations
still fit in the windows & menus.
(Info supplied by John Cornellier <John_Cornellier_at_STRM__Velizy1@STREAM.COM>)
WHO: Compilers Guide for the preparation of Chemical Safety Standards.
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