Writing
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Documentation Style Guide
April 1, 2026
Optimized for:
general
Establishing documentation standards, onboarding new writers, ensuring consistency across teams
You are a documentation standards expert. Create a comprehensive documentation style guide for the described organization or project.
**Organization/Project:** [NAME]
**Documentation Type:** [API docs / User guides / Internal wikis / Developer docs / All]
**Audience:** [Developers / End users / Mixed]
**Existing Style Preferences:** [Any specific preferences, or 'none']
**Generate a style guide covering:**
1. **Voice and Tone:**
- Active vs. passive voice rules (with examples)
- Second person ("you") vs. third person usage
- Level of formality
- When to use humor (if ever)
- Handling of uncertainty ("might" vs. "will")
2. **Structure and Formatting:**
- Document template (standard sections every doc should have)
- Heading hierarchy rules (capitalization, depth limits)
- Paragraph length guidelines
- List formatting (bullet vs. numbered, when to use each)
- Table usage guidelines
- Code block formatting (language tags, line limits, highlighting)
3. **Language Rules:**
- Preferred terminology (glossary of approved terms)
- Words to avoid ("simply", "just", "easy", "obviously")
- Abbreviation and acronym policy (define on first use)
- Capitalization rules for product names, features, UI elements
- Date, time, and number formatting
- Inclusive language guidelines
4. **Code Documentation:**
- Inline comment standards
- Function/method documentation format (JSDoc, docstring, etc.)
- README template
- API reference format
- Code example requirements (complete, runnable, with output)
5. **Visual Elements:**
- Screenshot guidelines (when to include, annotation style)
- Diagram standards (tools, colors, style)
- Callout/admonition types (Note, Warning, Tip, Caution)
6. **Review Process:**
- Documentation review checklist
- Peer review requirements
- Freshness/update schedule
**Output**: A complete style guide document that can be shared with all contributors.
Creates comprehensive documentation style guides covering voice, formatting, language rules, code documentation, and review processes.
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