Chapter 2: What is Technical Communication?
Section 2.8 Markdown and Style Guides
What is Markdown?
Markdown allows users to add formatting elements like headings, lists, and emphasis to plain text, making it easy to read and write while remaining readable even in its raw form. This makes Markdown a markup language that uses plain text formatting to create formatted text documents. Markdown is widely used for various purposes, including documentation, blogging, and online communication. As a technical communicator, you may use Markdown on various documents to indicate where headings, lists, and other information is included on a document.
Style Guides
Along with markup languages, a technical communicator has to follow whatever style guide a company uses. A chapter has already discussed one of the more common style guides, the Microsoft Style Guide, but below is a list of style guides that many companies use and adapt from to create their own style guides.
- The Chicago Manual of Style
- Associated Press Style
- APA Style
- Microsoft Style Guide
It is important to learn the style guides above as when you interview for a job as a technical communicator, you may be tested on your knowledge of these guides. More often, you may have to apply your understanding of the guides to a specific communication scenario. This means getting some experience with the above manuals of style will be beneficial for you as a technical communicator.
