Book description
The definitive reference for technical writers, editors, and
documentation managers, Read Me First! A Style Guide for the
Computer Industry, Third Edition,has been revised and updated
to cover everything from creating screencasts and referencing web
sites to writing for wikis.
This award-winning guide to creating clear, consistent, and
easy-to-understand documentation covers everything from grammar and
writing style to typographic and legal guidelines. The authors, who
are senior editors and writers at Sun Microsystems, share their
extensive experience and provide practical tips and
recommendations, including guidance on hiring writers, working with
illustrators, managing schedules and workflow, and more.
The third edition of Read Me First features new chapters
on:
Writing for wikis and encouraging wiki collaboration
Creating screencasts, using screencast terminology, and guidelines for writing narration
Creating alternative text for nontext elements such as screen captures, multimedia content, illustrations, and diagrams
It also includes new tables for symbol name conventions, for
common anthropomorphisms, and for common idioms and colloquialisms.
An updated and expanded recommended reading list suggests
additional resources.
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- Tables
- Examples
- Preface
- Chapter 1. Mechanics of Writing
- Chapter 2. Constructing Text
- Chapter 3. Writing Style
- Chapter 4. Structuring Information
- Chapter 5. Online Writing Style
- Chapter 6. Constructing Links
- Chapter 7. Writing Tasks, Procedures, and Steps
- Chapter 8. Writing for an International Audience
- Chapter 9. Legal Guidelines
- Chapter 10. Types of Technical Documents
- Chapter 11. Working With an Editor
- Chapter 12. Working With Illustrations
- Chapter 13. Writing Alternative Text for Nontext Elements
- Chapter 14. Documenting Graphical User Interfaces
- Chapter 15. Creating Screencasts
- Chapter 16. Using Wikis for Documentation
- Chapter 17. Glossary Guidelines
- Chapter 18. Indexing
- Appendex A. Developing a Publications Department
- Appendex B. General Term Usage
- Appendex C. Typographic Conventions
- Appendex D. Checklists and Forms
- Appendex E. Recommended Reading
- Index
Product information
- Title: Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry, Third Edition
- Author(s):
- Release date: December 2009
- Publisher(s): Pearson
- ISBN: 9780137058280
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