Microsoft Manual of Style

by Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Corporation

Maximize the impact and precision of your message! Now in its fourth edition, the Microsoft Manual of Style provides essential guidance to content creators, journalists, technical writers, editors, and everyone else who writes about computer technology. Direct from the Editorial Style Board at Microsoft—you get a comprehensive glossary of both general technology terms and those specific to Microsoft; clear, concise usage and style guidelines with helpful examples and alternatives; guidance on grammar, tone, and voice; and best practices for writing content for the web, optimizing for accessibility, and communicating to a worldwide audience. Fully updated and optimized for ease of use, the Microsoft Manual of Style is designed to help you communicate clearly, consistently, and accurately about technical topics—across a range of audiences and media.

Genres: Reference, Writing, Nonfiction, Technology, Business

464 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2004

About the author

Japanese: 日本マイクロソフト株式会社

Reviews

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I read a style manual. I secretly thrive on this kind of thing.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There isn't going to be a line-up at the bookstore for this manual. It was mind-numbing just skimming through it and reading the sections that are applicable to me. It is a useful style guide, however, for writers who need to know the correct terminology when writing for the computer industry.
I learnt something new - anthropomorphism. That is attributing human characteristics or behavior to things that are not human. For example, when referring to a computer, you shouldn't say it recognizes or remembers something. Use terms like "the computer will store your data" or "the speech recognition engine accepts..." I also learnt to write "Click Save As," not "Click on Save As." This style guide says you should put the punctuation inside the quotations.
One thing that bugged me throughout the entire book was indented instructions, but not indented examples. That is a bit counter-intuitive to me.
I believe the Chicago Manual of Style is the better choice if you want a style guide.

[Andrea Angella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a quick look at the book to get an idea of the content. This book has been clearly designed as the perfect reference when you need to write technical documentation in English. It is surely worth having it close to your desk.

[Lori Bain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for instructional designers and technical writers.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yet another style guide.
But surprisingly, not the style that the MS Word style & grammar checker implements.

[Mesoscope · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an invaluable aid to any technical writer. It's written specifically for Microsoft-sanctioned products, of course, but it will be useful to anyone looking for a methodically-conceived and persuasive set of guidelines for organizing and presenting technical information. It contains basic guidelines for organization and style, such as parallel construction, active voice, and simple, clear parsimony of expression, as well as more advanced rules dealing with thorny cases like dealing with always-lower-case tool or command names, when they may occur at the beginning of a sentence.

So far I've not yet had a problem that it hasn't covered, and 99% of the time I agree with their reasoned and aesthetically-sound recommendations.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kindle format hard to use

I cannot recommend the kindle version. There is no easy way to search and the table of contents chapter headings are broad. The index is useless because the entries run in to each other. This is not the kind of book to be read beginning to end. It is a reference. But it is hard to find information in the Kindle formatted version.

[GM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good aid when documenting software products or creating user interface. Contains useful rules to follow when preparing content that will be machine translated or read by international audience. Has a list of terminology (200 pages) with descriptions and examples.

[Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful style guide for technical writers.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for Quality assurance IT professionals