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16 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
16 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
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created: 20141226192500000
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title: Technical Prose Style
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tags: documenting
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When writing an [[Instruction Tiddler|Instruction Tiddlers]], start by planning a route through the information you wish to present. This should be a simple, logical, direct progression of thoughts, with no backtracking or forward references. Use this approach even within individual sentences: always proceed from cause to effect, from the old or known to the new or unknown.
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Keep sentences short and simple. A clear technical sentence seldom contains more than one idea. It therefore avoids parenthetical information. Similarly, keep paragraph structure simple. A flat presentation is often easier to understand than a hierarchical one.
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It is often possible to simplify a sentence without changing its meaning merely by adjusting its vocabulary. "Execution of the macro is performed" just means "The macro runs". "Your expectation might be..." just means "You might expect..."
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Prefer the active voice by default: "Jane creates a tiddler" rather than "a tiddler is created by Jane". The passive voice can be useful if you want the reader to focus on the action itself or its result: "a tiddler is created". But it may be clearer to proceed from cause to effect and say "this creates a tiddler" in the active voice.
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Documentation often presents two items that are parallel either by similarity or by difference. The reader will more easily detect such a pattern if you use the same sentence or phrase structure for both. But this must be balanced with the need to avoid monotony.
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Prefer precise instructions over woolly descriptions. If something has a name, use it. If something lacks a name, give it a tiddler.
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