[SeasonOfDocs] Not a Motion Yet: adopt a style guide

[Clarence Cromwell]

Here are both guides in one place.

Google:
https://developers.google.com/style/

Microsoft:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/style-guide/welcome/

On Sun, Aug 11, 2019 at 11:00 AM Clarence Cromwell <
clarencewcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Both of the guides offer good writing tips and have useful information
> about how to document APIs. Does anyone have strong feelings about one
> guide or the other?
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 1:08 PM Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I've change title to "Not a Motion yet". I can see that we have a
>> difference of opinions, which is fine. I think this is an important topic
>> for a tech writing project, and I would love to see robust and wide
>> discussion about it for at least a week, possibly more.
>>
>> This community is full of tech writers I have a lot of respect for, and
>> I'm keen to hear from each of you - even if it is just to say "I don't
>> care".
>>
>> Once we have moved toward "rough consensus" we can then re-raise the
>> motion.
>>
>> For my part, I don't have an opinion yet; my opinion will be formed based
>> upon this discussion.
>> On 8/8/19 5:06 am, Jennifer Rondeau wrote:
>>
>> Point of clarification: is this a style guide for the project to follow
>> as it develops content, or a style guide to recommend to projects that
>> might use tGDP?
>>
>> The former, I'm somewhat +1 to MS, somewhat -1 to the Google guide. Happy
>> to explain if needed.
>>
>> The latter, I'm -1 on any style guide. The appropriate guidance is the
>> kind of thing that the WTD guide already provides (lots of options, with
>> explanations of what they are and why they might be appropriate for
>> particular contexts/requirements/audiences/projects).
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 2:47 PM Clarence Cromwell <
>> clarencewcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> That might be a worthy alternative. Is this a motion, and if so, what
>>> dictionary would go with it?
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Aug 7, 2019, at 11:43 AM, Stephanie Blotner <sblotner59 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> What about the Google Developer Documentation Style Guide
>>> <https://developers.google.com/style/>?
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 9:20 AM Clarence Cromwell <
>>> clarencewcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I move that we adopt the Microsoft Style Guide
>>>> <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/style-guide/welcome/> and the Merriam-Webster
>>>> <https://www.merriam-webster.com/>dictionary for The Good Docs
>>>> project, and that we apply them to whatever writing is generated by the
>>>> project (our web site and our official templates) but that we don't demand
>>>> that anyone use a guide for contributing a collection of templates, as they
>>>> are source material.
>>>>
>>>> (I would emphasize that we only have to apply the style guide to
>>>> material before we publish it, so that doesn't even require that people
>>>> learn it before contributing; anyone who doesn't have the time, could allow
>>>> an editor to clean up contributions according to the style guide.)
>>>>
>>>> Reasoning:
>>>>
>>>>    - We need to all work from a single standard.
>>>>    - These guides are available for free online.
>>>>    - The Microsoft Guide is specific to technical writing, and is
>>>>    widely accepted in the industry.
>>>>
>>>> If there are strong feelings about using a different guide, I would
>>>> suggest a counter-motion naming a specific set of books, so that people can
>>>> vote for one or the other, and then we can get on with business.
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Stephanie Blotner
>>>
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>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> --
>> Cameron Shorter
>> Technology Demystifier
>> Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant
>>
>> M +61 (0) 419 142 254
>>
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>
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