The principal military specification for technical manuals is MIL-STD-38784. This document describes in detail each and every facet of a technical guide, which includes formatting, layout, material, and many other practices. There are illustrations in the appendix to present you precisely how, for example, a U.S Army technical manual need to seem. But even with this degree of detail, it has been my experience that every obtaining command will have diverse ideas on how they want their manual to look.
One particular of the other primary specifications employed for technical manuals comes from the aerospace sector. The voluminous ATA one hundred specification describes the proper way to develop documentation for every single element of an aircraft. For there are chapter codes assigned to each and every element of the airplane " for illustration 24 is Electric Power, 23 is Communications, and 49 is Airborne Auxiliary Energy.
Most specifications will also consist of a thorough explanation of how illustrations ought to be presented. The militarys 38784 specification details line weights, callouts, and many other elements of graphics that need to have to be right for military technical manuals.
Application documentation is somewhat diverse. One of the best standards for application technical creating was a book initially published by Digital Tools Corporation. The Digital Style Guide is an outstanding document to follow when you are creating user guides for application products.
Microsoft has created its very own Manual of Type for Technical Publications. This book is an exceptional device for the technical writer trying to figure out how to describe numerous elements of the computer software user interface.
When you are operating in specified industries or with smaller consumers, there may possibly not be any clear specification to stick to. I would advise that you examine the publications of other companies in the very same line of company (suppliers and vendors) to see what their technical manuals seem like. Or you can adapt one particular of the aforementioned specs to the activity, even although they could be overkill for smaller projects.
In the long run, any technical guide has to meet the specifications of the end consumer. For technical creating companies, it is essential to grow to be acquainted with the essential specifications in the arena in which you intend to secure enterprise. What you will find is that most of the specs are just variations on a theme. Many of the key components of a technical manual " table of contents, foreword, introduction, concept of operation, and so on. " are frequent to most technical manuals. However the arrangement and formatting of these components will differ based on which specification you are following.
Michael D. Bean has twenty years of experience creating technical manuals.. As president of Allard, Incorporated, he writes a weblog about technical manuals. If you are interested in finding out a lot more, please check out our website. Thanks.
Orignal From: Specifications That Guide Technical Writers
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