October/November 2004

Volume 45, Number 2

Book Review: Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, Third Edition

by Deb Lockwood

Believe it or not, the long promised and anticipated update to the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications is now available! The intent of this manual is to offer standards for content developers, writers, and editors who work with Microsoft applications.

Microsoft Press describes this version as "something of a departure from earlier editions." It is a departure, indeed. In the previous edition, technical terms were listed alphabetically. In this third edition, however, the first half of the book contains general usage information, and the second half contains a usage dictionary.

Changes reflect the simplification of language usage due to ease of translation for global audiences. For example, what used to be CD-ROM is now simply CD.

When writing this book, the authors focused their efforts on four audiences: home users, information workers, information technology professionals, and software developers. In many cases, the explanations of guideline usage are dependent on the audience. For example, in the discussion about dialog box on page 7, the audience determines what the objects and screen elements should be called.

General usage information in the first half of the book includes the following chapters:

• Chapter 1, Documenting the User Interface
• Chapter 2, Content Formatting and Layout
• Chapter 3, Global Content
• Chapter 4, Content for Software Developers
• Chapter 5, Web Content
• Chapter 6, Indexing and Attributing
• Chapter 7, Tone and Rhetoric
• Chapter 8, Accessible Content
• C1hapter 9, Common Style Problems
• Chapter 10, Grammatical Elements
• Chapter 11, Punctuation
• Chapter 12, List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

The usage dictionary, which begins on page 197, will be familiar to anyone who has used the second edition of the manual. This section contains technical terms, listed alphabetically, with explanations and examples of how to "correctly" use those terms. Frequently, the authors have included examples, both correct and incorrect.

Microsoft Press has included a CD inside the back cover of this book. On the CD you will find the following e-books in fully searchable PDF format:

• Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, Third Edition
• Microsoft Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition
• Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking, Second Edition

If you are looking for THE definitive standard book that also contains best practices for content developers and editors who work with Microsoft applications, you need to look no further than this manual of style. In fact, my employer has chosen this manual as the primary style guide we use to create our company's client documentation.

Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, Third Edition
Microsoft Corporate Editorial Style Board. 2004. 3rd ed. Redmond: Microsoft Press. [ISBN: 0-7356-1746-5. 398 pages. $29.99 (softcover).]
http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/6074.asp