Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

Sun Technical Publications (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131428993 | ISBN-13: 978-0131428997 | Publication Date: May 16, 2003 | Edition: 2

READ ME FIRST! is the definitive guide to creating technical documentation that is clear, consistent, and easy to understand. Sun Microsystems' award-winning tech writers and editors cover everything from grammar to clarity, illustrations to workflow. This fully revised Second Edition reflects dramatic changes in the technology industries, with extensive new coverage of Web/online documentation, internationalization, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The must-have reference for every technical writer, editor, and documentation manager—now fully updated!

Read Me First! is the definitive guide to creating technical documentation that is clear, consistent, and easy to understand. Sun Microsystems' award-winning technical writers and editors cover everything from grammar to clarity, illustrations to workflow. This fully revised second edition reflects dramatic changes in the production and delivery of technical documentation. Coverage includes:

• Detailed grammar, punctuation, typographic, and legal guidelines
• Extensive guidance on creating effective step-by-step procedures
• Techniques for documenting Web applications and graphical user interfaces
• Expert help with creating indexes and glossaries
• Extensive recommendations for using hyperlinks
• Checklists and forms for editing, tracking manuscripts, and verifying production status
• Guidelines for using commonly confused words and terms
• Practical tips for gender-neutral writing
• Internationalization guidelines that simplify translation and improve clarity for non-native English speakers
• Real-world help for managers: hiring writers, working with illustrators, managing schedules and workflow, coordinating with printers, and more
• Expanded and updated recommended reading list

About the Author

The Members of Sun Technical Publications are award-winning senior editors and writers for Sun Microsystems, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (May 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131428993
• ISBN-13: 978-0131428997
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #885,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book gets even better in 2nd edition, August 1, 2003

By 

Jean Hollis Weber (Queensland, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

The first edition of this style guide was good, especially if you wanted an alternative to the Microsoft Manual of Style, but this edition is even better. It covers a wider range of issues (for example, adding much information about writing online material), and covers them very well. In fact, the book goes a bit beyond style in an appendix on developing a publications department, but the topics covered are certainly relevant and valuable, so I'm glad they were included. I don't always agree with the style choices, but that's irrelevant; I've never seen any style guide I completely agree with. Overall, I'm so impressed with this book, I'm likely to use it as a textbook for teaching technical editors. As you can tell, I'm giving it the "highly recommended" stamp.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent chapter about documents with links, September 12, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Sun offers a style sheet for technical writers. These suggestions are used by Sun in its documents and are a very clean and internally consistent guide. Of course, it is not restricted to descriptions of Sun's products. A lot of care has gone into the guide.

Plus, the suggestions are not just for printed documents. Nowadays, a lot is expressed in languages with links, like HTML or PDF, and the advice pertains here too.

For illustrations, you are shown how to display interactable icons differently from non-interactable images. Subtleties, to be sure. But taking these into consideration makes for a clean document.

On the subject of documents with links, a chapter has cogent suggestions on the proper usage. Like avoiding overlinking, which is a common flaw amongst writers new to this. Also avoid linking with anchor text that is generic, like "click this". Instead, use more descriptive strings to help search engines classify the document that is pointed to. Assuming that both documents will be on the Web. But even if not, they might still be in your internal corporate web, and you might have an internal search engine spidering these. The strings will help the engine better classify both documents. This chapter may be the most vital of the book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Style Guide for Software Documentation, December 25, 2006

By 

Sameh Saeb "Saeb" (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This is a great book that tackles every aspect of software documentation with enough detail to get you started. Read Me First gives the push you need to begin laying down your own styles. It also reviews some basic grammatical issues that you as a Technical Writer must be aware of. I would recommend using several style guides if your company doesn't already have one. The Microsoft Style Guide is another great reference to consider. I gave this book 5 stars because of its easy to read format.