9 Essential Technical Writing Style Guides

Consistent, high-quality documentation doesn't happen by accident. Behind every exceptional technical document is a thoughtful style guide that establishes standards for voice, structure, and formatting. At Hire a Writer, we know that the right style guide can transform your technical content from confusing to crystal clear.

Whether you're developing your first style guide or refining an existing one, studying established guides is an excellent way to inform your approach. We've analyzed nine industry-leading technical writing style guides to help you build documentation that engages users and builds trust in your product.

Why Technical Writing Style Guides Matter

Before diving into specific examples, let's clarify why style guides are crucial:

• Consistency across all documentation builds user confidence
• Efficiency increases as writers spend less time making stylistic decisions
• Onboarding new writers becomes significantly easier
• Quality improves when everyone follows established best practices
• Community development is facilitated around uniform documentation

1. Draft.dev Technical Blogging Style Guide

The Draft.dev Technical Blogging Style Guide offers an excellent starting point, particularly for technical blog content. Their framework divides style into four key areas:

• Voice: Uses second person (you, yours) to create a direct connection with readers
• Content: Outlines specific structures for technical posts and emphasizes evidence-based writing
• Conventions: Standardizes formatting approaches, including Markdown usage and image placement
• Communication: Emphasizes the writer-editor relationship with clear guidelines for collaboration

This guide is particularly valuable if you're focused on technical blog content rather than product documentation.

2. A List Apart Style Guide

The A List Apart style guide takes a reader-centric approach with a slightly more informal tone. It provides comprehensive guidance on:

• Text formatting for maximum readability
• Asset management (images, author bios)
• Content refinement techniques
• Metaphor usage with a focus on clarity first

Their recommendation to follow The Chicago Manual of Style and Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage as principal references provides writers with trusted resources for resolving language questions.

3. DigitalOcean's Technical Writing Guidelines

DigitalOcean's Technical Writing Guidelines stand out for their clear organization and focus on developer documentation. The guide covers:

• Style: Guidelines for clarity, detail level, completeness, and tone
• Structure: Specific templates for different documentation types
• Formatting: Extended Markdown usage with practical examples
• Terminology: Standardized conventions for usernames, domains, and variable inputs

DigitalOcean's approach is particularly valuable for technical documentation aimed at system administrators and software engineers.

4. SUSE Documentation Style Guide

The SUSE Documentation Style Guide excels in documentation for established software products. Its greatest strength is its emphasis on audience definition before writing begins. Key principles include:

• Avoiding promises about future features
• Including clear warnings about feature deprecation
• Transparent handling of unsupported features

Their detailed conventions for GeekoDoc/DocBook markup language make this guide particularly useful for teams working with structured documentation formats.

5. The IET Guide to Technical Report Writing

The Institution of Engineering and Technology's guide offers timeless principles that apply across technical disciplines. Their "ten laws of good report writing" begin and end with the same crucial rule: write for your readers.

This concise guide covers:

• Clear objective setting
• Structural formatting principles
• Sentence and paragraph construction
• Diagram placement and design
• Finishing touches like summaries and proofreading

The IET's precision is demonstrated in their detailed examples of punctuation usage and its impact on meaning.

6. Apple Style Guide

The Apple Style Guide serves as a comprehensive reference for various content types, including instructional materials, technical documentation, and user interfaces. It particularly shines in its coverage of:

• Units of measure standardization
• Technical notation guidelines
• Extensive terminology glossary
• International audience considerations

Their guidance on writing for global readers is particularly valuable: "Following international style helps readers with limited English proficiency read what you write. By following international style, you also help translators—human or machine—localize your writing."

7. GitLab Documentation Style Guide

The GitLab Documentation Style Guide demonstrates how to manage technical documentation like a software project. This living document evolves continuously and includes automated testing for:

• Article structure and content quality
• Link integrity
• Asset management

GitLab's "documentation-first methodology" establishes technical documentation as the single source of truth for implementation, usage, and troubleshooting—an approach worth considering for your organization.

8. Google Developer Documentation Style Guide

The Google developer documentation style guide provides comprehensive coverage of technical writing best practices while acknowledging that specific projects may have unique requirements. Standout sections include:

• Accessibility: Guidelines for voice, tone, keyboard navigation, screen readers, and inclusive language
• Language and grammar: Rules to avoid anthropomorphizing software and guidance on verb forms for reference documentation
• Computer interfaces: Special considerations for API documentation
• Naming conventions: Standardized approaches for files, domains, and trademarks

Their balanced perspective on HTML versus Markdown highlights the tradeoffs between human readability and expressive formatting.

9. Microsoft Writing Style Guide

The Microsoft Writing Style Guide is frequently referenced by other style guides for its comprehensive coverage and adaptability to different content types. Their strongest contribution is their clear brand voice definition:

"The Microsoft voice is how we talk to people. It's the interplay of personality, substance, tone, and style."

Microsoft defines their voice as:

• Warm and relaxed
• Crisp and clear
• Ready to lend a hand

This guide demonstrates how to maintain consistent voice attributes across vastly different content types, from chatbot scripts to responsive web content.

Creating Your Own Technical Writing Style Guide

After reviewing these guides, three essential elements emerge:

1. Know your audience: Define who will read your documentation and tailor everything to their needs
2. Establish a distinctive voice: Create a recognizable, consistent tone that reflects your brand
3. Prioritize clarity: Keep language simple, concise, and precise

While these principles form the foundation, your guide should evolve to include formats, glossaries, and structures specific to your products and users.

How Hire a Writer Can Help

Developing an effective technical writing style guide requires expertise and time. At Hire a Writer, our technical documentation specialists can help you:

• Analyze your current documentation landscape
• Define your ideal audience profiles
• Craft a distinctive yet appropriate voice
• Develop customized style guidelines for your specific technical domain
• Train your team on consistent implementation

Ready to elevate your technical documentation with a tailored style guide? Contact us today to discuss how we can transform your technical content.