Writing TEXT

Documentation Style Guide

April 1, 2026 Optimized for: general Establishing documentation standards, onboarding new writers, ensuring consistency across teams

Prompt

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.

Tags

Creates comprehensive documentation style guides covering voice, formatting, language rules, code documentation, and review processes.

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