Style Guide: Homebuilding (Home Building?) Terminology

A style guide is a set of standards to follow when creating and working with content. Some of the most widely-used style guides include the MLA Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style.

Industry terminology is a standard component of a corporate style guide. In the homebuilding industry, there are numerous ways to write and use common terminology (probably true of most industries). The following is an abbreviated list of just some of these debatable terms. My favored versions are on the left.

• Home vs. House
• Homebuilding vs. Home building
• Homebuilder vs. Home builder
• Homeowner vs. Home owner
• Homebuyer vs. Home buyer
• Backerboard vs. Backer board
• Blown-in insulation vs. Blown in insulation
• Crawlspace vs. Crawl space
• On-site vs. Onsite
• Low-E vs. Low E
• Slab-on-grade foundation vs. Slab on grade foundation
• Watertight vs. Water tight
• Through-wall flashing vs. Through wall flashing
• Thin-set mortar vs. Thin set mortar
• Unfaced batt vs. Un-faced batt
• Whole-house approach vs. Whole house approach
• Shingle-style vs. Shingle-fashion
• Shingle-style vs. Shingle style
• Weatherstripping vs. Weather stripping
• Housewrap vs. House wrap

Advice for Writers

What is the best advice for writers? Good advice can come from lots of different places, but it's what rings true to you that matters most.

"Read a lot, write a lot." - Stephen King, On Writing (Pocket, 2001)

King's advice is succinct, clear, hard to forget, and most of all, it rings true. To be a serious writer, King says, you should do these two things above all others.

Must You Always Write in Complete Sentences?

No way! However, complete sentences offer real value. To be complete, a sentence must have a noun, a verb, and punctuation. I write. Sally sits. Bobby bounces. Should you choose to deviate from this path of noun-verb-punctuation, do so only as a master of grammar. As William Strunk, the writing style guru, put it, "Unless he is certain of doing well, [the writer] will probably do best to follow the rules." And as Stephen King in On Writing replied, "If you don't have a rudimentary grasp of how the parts of speech translate into coherent sentences, how can you be certain you are doing well?" Language is wonderfully flexible. An incomplete sentence can be as powerful as a complete one, but know that you have to master the rules first before you break them.

Caveat: Of almost equal importance is the medium. There are many mediums—technical reports are one—where complete sentences are not only the norm but are also best suited to the material and the audience. But that's a discussion for another day.

Read more on a similar topic from one of my earlier blog posts: Writing with Style: Rules vs. Folklore.

Mentioned in STC's IDL SIG Newsletter!

The Society for Technical Communication's (STC) IDL SIG mentioned me in its Fall 2009 newsletter yesterday. Pretty cool! Thanks, IDL SIG. Although a few of the details in the blurb are slightly incorrect (we co-authored a case study in the book, the case studies are related to more trades than just construction, and Laurent Brixius is the author), it's still nice to see.

Check out the Member News section on page 15:
http://stcid.ehost.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IDeaL-Fall2009.pdf

"Creating with SketchUp" Book - Publish Date Set for Nov. 6

A book I worked on is getting published on November 6th! The book is "Creating with SketchUp - 16 projects, from architecture to theater." It will be available from Pearson, a publisher in the education industry. Big thanks go out to the coordinator and author of the book, Laurent Brixius, and the co-director and translator, Jean-Philippe Moreux! As well as to my co-author, James Steacy! They helped make it all possible.

It brings together 16 case studies from a variety of people on their different uses of Google SketchUp. James and I co-authored one of these case studies (he acted as the expert in SketchUp, and I acted as the expert in content development and as lead writer). It's a piece that goes in-depth into the story of crafting a technical step-by-step document for construction trades who need to install a window. Follow the links below to learn more about it!

Pearson is releasing the book in French first (as "Creer avec SketchUp - 16 projets, de l'architecture au theatre"). The book might come out in English down the road, probably depending on the success of the French version. Most of the co-authors are English-speakers, so a version in English isn't much of a stretch.

• To read about the book on the publisher's website (in French): http://www.pearson.fr/livre/?GCOI=27440100233890.
• To read about the book on the main author's website (in French): http://www.arch-image.com/wordpress/.
• To read a translation of the post from the main author's website (in English): http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/sketchup/11619-cool-book-about-sketchup-soon.html#post157358.

Title: Creer avec SketchUp
Subtitle: 16 projets, de l'architecture au theatre
Author: Laurent Brixius
Co-authors: Frédéric Blanc, Matt Chambers, Tim Danaher, David Harned, Takeshi Hashimoto, Alex Jenyon, Timothy S. Killen, John Lang, Lauren A. May, Koenraad Nys, Robert Playford, Nicolas Rateau, Patrick J. Reynolds, Mitchel Stangl, James Steacy, Jean Thiriet, Kim A. Tolman
Collection: Studio Graphique
Language: Francais
Publication date: Novembre 2009
# of pages: 320
Price: 32,00 €

Umbraco Level 1 Training Oct. 19-20

Umbraco Level 1 training is being offered in Seattle on Oct. 19-20! Paul Sterling, an Umbraco MVP, is teaching the course over the two-day span.

Umbraco Training - Level 1
October 19-20, 2009
Seattle Public Library
1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104
Register Here

Several different web developers recommended this course to me. One said, "You'll end up knowing much more about Umbraco and increase your ability to direct projects and understand when Umbraco would make a great solution to a challenge." While the course's target audience is designers and web developers, it seems to be doable (and enjoyable) for those of us who only moonlight as developers once in a blue moon or wish we could.

U.S. Government Acknowledges Technical Writers As Distinct from All Other Writing Professions

U.S. Government Acknowledges Technical Writers As Distinct from All Other Writing Professions (STC.org)

According to a post on STC.org, the website for the Society for Technical Communication, the Occupational Outlook and Handbook (OOH), which is published by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), will give technical writers their own report in the 2010-2011 edition out in December 2009. What does this mean for technical writers? This means technical writers will be recognized for the first time as having a profession that is distinct from all other writing professions.

STC Pittsburgh Chapter Oct. 22 Event

If you're in the Pittsburgh area, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) is hosting a '09/'10 kick-off event on Oct. 22, 2009. The event is open and free for anyone from or interested in the Pittsburgh technology community. Read more about it on the Chapter's website.

STC Pittsburgh Technology Group Mashup
Oct. 22, 2009, 6-9pm
@ ThoughtForm, 3700 S. Water St.

vjoon K4 Publishing System

What is K4? I heard about this publishing system recently and wanted to learn more. K4 is produced by vjoon, a company based in Germany that creates publishing solutions. This system is primarily for publishing content for magazines, newspapers, business reports, and books, both on and off-line. While K4 appears to be a solution targeted at major media companies (and is too big for the smaller company I work for), it has piqued my curiosity. Read more about it at www.vjoon.com. Have you used K4 before? Let me know your thoughts!

Overused "Quotation Marks"

Overused quotation marks are "fantastic." Ever wondered about that "fish" at the local market? Or that "Halloween" costume at the mall? If so, then maybe you're a little like me: you love to see them and you love to see them go.
Here are some recent favorites from technical reports that have made their way across my desk (only the fourth one really meant to be sarcastic):

• Architects are often taught the philosophy that "form follows function." (Or so it's said...)
• Some homebuilders will engage in "value engineering" when costs are too high. (Yeah, "value")
• A second "mini" discussion may be necessary to trim the budget. (And by "mini," I meant "huge," especially in this economy)
• "Full" plan sets for homes are often missing critical details. (Hoping you won't notice...)
• Some builders have an "open book" policy with their construction trades. (That's good, I think...)
• Getting their "buy-in" on the idea is recommended. (Or is it?)

One of my favorite blogs is The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. Check it out for more fun with quotes, because you can't help but enjoy them.

France May Put Warning Labels on Airbrushed Photos

France May Put Warning Labels on Airbrushed Photos
(Time, Monday, Oct. 5, 2009)

In the news, conservative lawmaker Valérie Boyer is hoping to pass legislation in France that will require digitally enhanced photos to carry a warning label saying they've been modified from their original state. She says that deliberately misleading photos are causing consumers to expect perfection from both themselves and the people around them, negatively influencing us to believe a distorted version of reality.

She makes an interesting point. It's very common for marketing, sales, and media organizations to enhance photos in order to sell a product or idea. However, will placing warning labels on perfected photos do much to mitigate their impact on society? Imagine that these labels would not only appear in fashion magazines, but also in newspaper columns, print advertising campaigns, newsletters, websites, news magazines, book covers.... Her strongest argument revolves around photos of people, where a woman's cellulite is smoothed away, for instance, or a man's muscles are given more definition. These modifications, she argues, can drive society to feel frustrated, depressed, and upset that "we can't be like those other people who—literally—don't exist."

For enhanced photos of people, will adding warning labels be a successful tactic? It's unlikely we'll see a decrease in society's obsession with beauty, but we may see a trend toward a greater appreciation for natural beauty. Its success will also in part be defined by how well the legislation is enacted. In a society where there are billions of photos, how do you ensure that every one that's modified has a warning label? Most likely, the answer is to define which photos fall into this category and which don't. So, enhancing your Facebook profile photo won't mean a $50,000 fine.

Leveraging Content Pt. 1

So what does it mean to "leverage"? In short, it means to create something once and then reuse it elsewhere. A pretty simple but valuable concept. In the financial industry, the word "leverage" means: "The use of a small initial investment...to gain a very high return in relation to one's investment" (Dictionary.com). Note the phrase "a very high return." Ideally, that's the goal of well-leveraged content--you invest once in its creation to see a return on that investment grow as the content is reused.

Thinking about this reminds me of a conference call with a gentleman in the online courseware industry several months back. He too was very familiar with the concept of leveraging content and knew the significance of its potential ROI. He spoke unabashedly about creating a course once and then reselling it to a broad spectrum of customers. He could switch out one color scheme and company logo for a different one, and bam, he'd have a branded course ready to go for the next customer. In every case, his initial investment was blown out of the water by the amount he made back. (Before we go leaping from our seats to enter the online courseware industry, it is important to note that he also had several elements in his favor--in almost all cases, he was his own subject matter expert, course designer, and content creator, reducing his overhead, and he focused on soft skill learning.) His enthusiasm for his courses was infectious and serves as a good example of an individual successfully leveraging content.

Umbraco - Open Source CMS

Umbraco is an open source content management system (CMS) from Denmark. I've been working with it professionally for more than two years to manage some 15 websites and white labels. The key to getting it to work for you is to assemble a good team of knowledgeable people to develop, manage, and use the CMS. The ideal team should include a developer and a content manager at minimum who share and understand a vision of how it will be used. In my case, our team included, depending on the situation: two developers, a content manager (me), an outside web design company (sometimes), and a technical illustrator. Check this CMS out at http://umbraco.org/. Have you used Umbraco before? If so, I'd love to hear the pros and cons of your experience.

Commas in a [Complicated] Series

"This product was chosen because it offers a high thermal performance for its cost, the ability to act as a drainage plane, a sufficient performance as an insulating sheathing material, and a favorable demonstration of cold climate permeability characteristics."

At the basis of this sentence is the following meaning--here is a product that offers four benefits. These four benefits are listed as a series separated by commas. Each comma has an important purpose in the sentence. It tells the reader that one item in the list is ending and a new one is beginning. Basic grammar. However, there are two camps regarding the final comma in the list--the one before the word "and." The first camp says that a comma isn't needed before a conjunction, and the second says that a comma is needed before it. Whether or not you fall into either of these two camps, there are certain cases where a comma is important to ensure the clarity of the sentence, and a complicated series is one of these cases.

What do I mean by a complicated series? While there are different types of complicated series, the one is the example lists items that are composed of numerous words. Here's a recap of the items:

• a high thermal performance for its cost
• the ability to act as a drainage plane
• a sufficient performance as an insulating sheathing material
• a favorable demonstration of cold climate permeability characteristics

At 7-8 words each, the items are lengthy. Commas remind readers that they are seeing a list of items and that they can pause for breath between them. By leaving out the final comma, the writer robs the reader of these reminders. Take a look at the sentence again without the final comma:

"This product was chosen because it offers a high thermal performance for its cost, the ability to act as a drainage plane, a sufficient performance as an insulating sheathing material and a favorable demonstration of cold climate permeability characteristics."

See how the last two items in the list merge? Adding a comma before the conjunction requires little effort on the writer's end and can offer a big benefit on the reader's end--clarity.

Writing with Style: Rules vs. Folklore

"Distinguish real grammatical rules from folklore." - Joseph M. Williams' #1 principle for writing clearly.

There's a real difference between what we learn in high school English class and what we do in real life. In high school essays, we are taught to never begin a sentence with the words "and" or "but," never use a contraction, never use the word "thing," never write using the words "we" and "you," and to always remember to not place a comma before the conjunction in a simple series.

Wait a minute. I was taught to put a comma before the conjunction. And do you know what, sometimes I like starting a sentence with a conjunction! Williams' advice never held so much truth. In fact, we're crossing into the land of re-considering what you learned in grade school to arrive at a different truth--that once you're an expert in the rules of writing, you can refine and manipulate them in order to be a successful communicator. You may have learned one rule in fifth grade and another in ninth, but it's up to you and your style guide to select the proper one based on the overall picture. If you've analyzed the context; the concept; the who, what, when, where, and why; and arrived at the conclusion that you are going to write the piece using the word "you," then go into it with confidence.

Getting Published!

Looking forward to the release of a new book—Creer avec SketchUp (To Create with SketchUp)—in November 2009. We're in the final stages of getting it wrapped up before going to print. The book brings together 16 case studies from a variety of people on different uses of Google SketchUp. I co-authored Projet 5: Creer une Documentation with James Steacy. It's a piece that goes in-depth into the story of crafting a technical step-by-step document for construction trades who need to install a window. It's been several months of off-and-on work. A description is on the publisher's website at http://www.pearson.fr/livre/?GCOI=27440100233890.