Difference between revisions of "Tutorials Style Guide"

Revision as of 11:52, 24 October 2007

This style guide is intended for use in the development of workshop/application tutorials in the computing wiki.

Writing guidelines

Technical writing best practices

• Remove the chattiness
• Use clear and concise language
• don't use "you"
• Start each step with a verb if possible. What is the person doing specifically?

Formatting conventions

• When indicating navigation in the application use bold text and the > to indicate navigational sequence

Example:

1. Click Go > Connect to Server

• Use italics for text that should be replaced by user specific information

Example:

1. Enter your username

Page layout

• Usage of section headers must be consistent

Example structure for tutorials

Title of tutorial "chunk" (level 2)

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Brief overview to orient what is being done in this section. May not always be necessary.

Subheading (level 3)

Brief overview to orient what is being done in this section. May not always be necessary.

1. Numbered step
2. Numbered step with link to larger version of figure graphic. Figure 1
3. Numbered step
4. Numbered step with link to larger version of figure graphic.. Figure 2
5. Numbered step with link to larger version of figure graphic. Figure 3
6. Embedded images work well when small

Subheading (level 3)

Brief overview to orient what is being done in this section. May not always be necessary.

1. Numbered step. Use bold text when indicating menus for clicking, i.e. Go > Connect to Server.
2. Urls should be written out fullyhttps://studentfiles.evergreen.edu

See also

• Connect to Hurricane - Mac OS X