Errata for Microsoft® Manual of Style

"preforming" should presumably be "performing".

Incomplete text in the left side of the 2nd row in the table: "To learn about a complex task or feature in an we"

Note from the Author or Editor:
Needs to be changed to “To learn about a complex task or a feature in an application”

"The style of the source language has significant impact on the quality if the translation and how well the translated content can be understood." Should read: "The style of the source language has significant impact on the quality of the translation and how well the translated content can be understood." To clarify, “if” should be changed to “of”.

The second bullet is not an example so it should be a normal paragraph instead. Also, bulleted lists are not used elsewhere in the table for examples anyway.

Note from the Author or Editor:
2nd item shouldn't be a bullet

I think that the word "and" is missing between "comprehension" and "make".

Review the phrase "it is may be all right" in the following sentence: If the term is used in newspapers, such as The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, or in general interest magazines, such as Time or Newsweek, it is may be all right to use for some audiences. It seems as though the sentence should read: If the term is used in newspapers, such as The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, or in general interest magazines, such as Time or Newsweek, it may be all right to use for some audiences.

MSTP should be changed to Microsoft Manual of Style. MSTP refers to the earlier version of this book, which was the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications.

Located in the first table entry "Spell out names of months." In the "More Information" column, for the sentence "For example, do not use 6/12/2010." The year should be 2011 to match the followup examples of June 2011 or December 2011.

On page 59 you state in the 3rd bullet "Remove the checkmark" yet on page 263 in the alpha section, you state that "check mark" is two words.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Should be check mark.

This paragraph says "... refer to unavailable commands and options ..." However, on the previous page, it says "Do not refer to a menu command as a choice or an option."

Note from the Author or Editor:
remove "option" from that paragraph: In general, refer to unavailable commands as unavailable... ("unavailable" is ital)

"The following illustrations show examples of toolbars." should be "The following illustration shows an example of a toolbar."

'prograrms' instead of 'programs' in first sentence in table cell

There is no full stop at the end of the sentence. This happens in many other cross-ref sentences as well.

"system defined" should be hyphenated, as in the row above.

The examples of Microsoft style do not use bold formatting for the labels.

The second example contains a double backslash.

Note from the Author or Editor:
This is a typo. It should be a single backslash: MyFiles\Accounting\Payroll\VacPay

"Italic" is shown twice. I assume that 's because it can be used either for new terms or emphasis, but I think that this looks odd. It might be better to split this row into two: one for new terms, one for emphasis.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Rewrite as below: Italic on first mention of a new term, unless your project style sheet specifies otherwise. Use italic formatting for emphasis sparingly. Note Italic type does not always show up well online. If necessary to accommodate low-resolution monitors, enclose new terms in quotation marks.

The intro implies that typing commands or running programs at a command prompt is not using a user interface. However, this IS an interface. It's just that it's not a GRAPHICAL user interface. Maybe the start of the first sentence should be changed to say "Although computer users today use the graphical user interface ..."

The cross-refs for more info include a cross-ref to the section in which the cross-refs are included.

"used bold formatting" should be "use bold formatting".

The first list item includes all the subsequent list items.

In Step 3 of the "Microsoft style (infinitive phrase)" example, "... and then click OK." I believe 'OK' should be in bold as it is in Step 3 of the identical example above.

Ah, I've got it! "Place information about the item in the left column in the subsequent columns." should actually be "Place information about the item THAT IS in the left column in the subsequent columns." You should follow your own advice about optional pronouns on page 34!

Note from the Author or Editor:
Revise: “In the subsequent columns, place information about the item that appears in the left column.”

It's not clear to me from the advice that you have given in this subsection why "9,600 baud" is not Microsoft style.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Text should say: In general, use commas in numbers that have four or more digits, regardless of how the numbers appear in the interface. When designating years and baud, however, use commas only when the number has five or more digits.

Strictly speaking, the HTML codes for the multiplication sign should end with a semi-colon. Maybe you missed this out deliberately to avoid it being confused with the punctuation of the sentence.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Add the semicolon and use italics for the two codes: "In HTML, the multiplication sign is specified as × or ×."

The character shown in the 4th row looks identical to that shown in the 5th row. Presumably, one is meant to be a typographer's, or curly, apostrophe and one a straight apostrophe. Further down the table, the inch mark should really be straight quotation marks instead of curly quotation marks. Near the end of the table, the quotation marks all look the same, that is, they are all curly.

For the greater than sign and the less than sign, the Name column says "such" instead of "such as". The double, curly quotation marks are described simply as "quotation marks", not "curly quotation marks", which is inconsistent with how you describe single, curly quotation marks.

To follow Microsoft style, the first callout should say "On the File menu, point to Send to, and then click where you want to send the file or folder."

The quotation marks that you have described as "straight" are actually curly.

"constant+1" should be surrounded by straight quotation marks instead of curly ones.

Typo in comments: "MSFT is all right it use".

Note from the Author or Editor:
Should be "MSFT is all right to use".

Typo in Acronym column: "N/A or".

Note from the Author or Editor:
"or" should be deleted

The comments include "software_plus_services" instead of "software-plus-services".

Note from the Author or Editor:
"software-plus-services" is correct

The inch sign should be straight, not curly, quotation marks.

Italics are missing. Update to: Don’t use <ital>K</ital>, <ital>K byte</ital>, or <ital>KByte</ital>. Don’t use <ital>M</ital>, <ital>meg</ital>, <ital>M byte</ital>, or <ital>MByte</ital>.

Maybe the last example should be changed to "Windows Vista and above", especially in the light of your recent guidance not to use "and later".

Note from the Author or Editor:
Delete the last sentence, “Do not use above to mean later, as in Windows Vista and later.” The larger point is not just to avoid using “above” when we mean “later,” but not to say this at all, in favor of spelling out specifically which versions we mean.

The last bullet point does not have a full stop at the end.

Should "When you are finished" be "When you have finished" instead?

Note from the Author or Editor:
Change to “When you have finished.”

"But" should be "but".

Should "When you are finished" be "When you have finished"?

Note from the Author or Editor:
Change to “When you have finished.”

"guide" should be italic.

I think that "You need Windows XP or over." instead of "You need Windows 7 or over." would make your point better.

"annotation pane" is italic but "Score pane" is not. I don't know why.

Note from the Author or Editor:
It should be italicized. Also, we don’tuse quotes for examples, so this should be: ...use lowercase for pane names, as in the annotation pane. If a pane is labeled.... as in the Score pane.

Maybe the word "legacy" should be avoided, in line with your own advice.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Change to: "This term has been replaced by specific update types such as..."

"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" should be split into two separate lines.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Should be two lines: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

There should be a full stop after "undelete".

The paragraph beginning "Do not use should" should be indented because it's not an example.

"contents" is in a larger font size.