A Publication Style Guide for Linux?

Saqib Ali asks: "Apple, publishes the Apple Publications Style Guide, which codifies the way in which Apple documentation uses language. This publication contains information about the specific terms that are used to describe interface elements. It also defines style and usage issues such as how certain terms are used and the preferred capitalization, spelling, and hyphenation of those terms. Some parts of the style guide are excerpted in this chapter to provide quick reference for key elements of the user interface. Whenever you are constructing a language for your application, you can consult the Apple Publications Style Guide to help you to create consistent and usable one. Is there a similar Style Guide for Linux Publications? If not, why not?"

"My interest in this stems from the fact that there is lot of Linux Documentation (including mine) that are not consistent in the style and terminology. So, I would like to propose a creation of a Style Guide for Linux Technical Publication. I think a wiki would be the perfect tool to create this Guide collaboratively. I am willing to host a Wiki @ http://tools.tldp.org (The Linux Documentation Project development server). Is this a good idea? Are people interested in seeing something of this sort?"

Comments

Re:Let the holy wars commence

[fm6]

I predict flamewars during the writing of the guide on a scale not seen since the Emacsian Jihad.

Which is precisely why this is a bad idea.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm a tech writer, and style guides are part of my professional toolset. But the point of a style guide is to get a bunch of disparate people writing with a common voice, so that the reader isn't distracted or confused by inconsistent usage. How could you possibly expect anything like a common voice from the odd assortment of volunteers that write Linux documentation?