But it is the language the world speaks and we have to put in our two bits to do it correctly. The web has created a global audience, so if you are among the ones who write in English for a living, you got to be word perfect even you may not be pitch perfect with your accents. As a writer and blogger, I know the pitfalls of a typo or making a mistake with an ‘effect’ or ‘affect’. If writing perfection is your calling card, you need a Writing Style Guide by your side.
What Is A Writing Style Guide?
A style guide documents the basic rules that help to ensure consistency in any written or visual work. Think of it as a set of standards everyone should follow. These standards could be about fundamentals like grammar and punctuation, or address structural elements of layouts, typography, citations, and visual design. For example: a writing style guide could tell the writer the minimum words he should use or that an image should be of a specific size. Some guides may also lay down rules for tone and voice. The main motive is to create a uniform experience for the audience.
AP Style tip: Capitalize film titles and put them in quotations: “Lincoln,” “Les Miserables,” “Life of Pi,” “Skyfall” and “Argo.”
— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) January 9, 2013
Wikipedia defines it as – A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field. The implementation of a style guide provides uniformity in style and formatting within a document and across multiple documents.
Writing style guides are more common in publishing and academics. There are many different varieties of style guides; some are general while some are specialized. Some are universal while some are region specific. The fact is that anyone can create a style guide for internal use. On the other hand, there are easily available style guides which anyone can refer to.
5 Style Guides for Bloggers, and Content Writers
Associated Press Style Guide or the AP Style Guide is the recommended one for journalists and I would say, even for online writing. It is a widely followed standard as it allows newspapers to easily sell or exchange stories without having to make wholesale changes in the press piece.
The Chicago Manual of Style on the other hand is equally well known but followed by authors and writers. Both have updated social media guidelines for the digital age. But being industry standards they carry nice price tags. So, let’s look into five free style guides that are also out there for our reference.
The Yahoo! Style Guide
Yahoo has been putting together online copy since the early years of the web and the Yahoo Style Guide is supposed to be a result of all their best practices. The style guide started as an in-house reference and the website is a companion to the book by Chris Barr. Yahoo style Guide differs from the AP Style Guide in some respects and the differences are listed. The Yahoo Style Guide is more relaxed and on the face of it seems just what you would need for web writing.
The BBC News Styleguide
When it comes to the Queen’s language, few can argue with BBC’s usage. The BBC News Styleguide is a standard set forth for clear written and spoken communication. The single 86-page PDF file is a primer for that. It is not about strict guidelines but more about what you should follow to get it just right. As the guide says – The BBC is listened to throughout the world and should be a beacon of correct English. The PDF guide covers topics on the basics of parts of speech, jargons, abuse of clichés, and political correctness.
The Guardian and Observer Style Guide
75 is not a bad age for a style guide, but The Guardian style guide has managed to keep pace with the times (I did find web 2.0 and Wi-Fi there). The Guardian remains one of U.K.’s leading dailies. The style guide is alphabetically listed and is concise with its instructions on word usage (and abusage). The style guide also has its own Twitter handle at @guardianstyle.
National Geographic Style Manual
The National Geographic Style Manual is a guide to preferred National Geographic Society style and usage. It is a house guide but can be used by others for reference purposes as it is free and openly available on the Nat Geo site. Search through the site alphabetically or use the search box on top. Though National Geographic is science oriented, the style guide is non-academic and is meant for general usage. You will quite obviously see a lot of words from the world of natural sciences. The first version came out in print form in 1962, so one can assume the guide is full of editorial experience.
The Elements Of Style
Many consider William Strunk’s little booklet (just 43 pages of American English usage) an essential read. In fact, Times listed it as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923. Written in 1918, it remains relevant to this day. His 17th principle of composition is one which everyone should remember – “Omit needless words.” You can get to an online version of the book by following the above link. The little guide is searchable.
The question you should ask yourself is – do I need a writing style guide? The answer could be yes, because it lays the foundation for any writing you do on the web. There are many other resources like dictionaries and spell checkers, but if you want to put it all together professionally, sift through a style guide.
Feedback wanted – have you purposefully ever looked up a style guide? Do you consider it along with your research?
The post Writing For the Digital Age: 5 Free Writing Style Guides Online appeared first on MakeUseOf.
No comments:
Post a Comment