Style Guides

Margins. Set your margins for Top, Bottom, Left, and Right. Don’t forget to identify if pages are front only, or front and back. Margins may differ depending if the page number is odd or even.

Rules. If you are going to use a thin horizontal line at the top and/or bottom of the page to separate header/footer information indicate size, length, and thickness.

Registered Symbols. Indicate what symbols to use and how often on a page or in a document. For example, you will want to indicate appropriate symbols for your company’s product as well as all other software/hardware products used. Make sure you understand copyright and symbol use for each product. You can usually find that information on the company’s website under Legal or Privacy Information.

Punctuation Marks. Indicate whether punctuation marks appear inside or outside quotation marks.

Paragraph Indentions. Will paragraphs be indent on the first line only? Will the entire paragraph be indented? Determine what works best for your documentation then identify it here. Don’t forget to indicate how far to indent when listing items or numbering procedure steps.

Underline, Bold, Italic Use. Make rulings here about when to use each font style. For example, you may only want to use bold when referencing another section. Or you may want to use italic instead of underline because underlining may cut off the descenders of letters.

Look for additional articles to learn about style guides for page layout and format, Manual format, Conventions, and where you can find style guides on the Internet.

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