Is the Microsoft Manual of Style appropriate for writing general IT related instructional documents?

Question

I'm currently working for a company's IT department, and one of my tasks is to write documentation for common procedures that we perform, in order to get new employees acquainted with them more quickly. I was considering using the Microsoft Manual of Style as a style guide for consistency, since I find that most Microsoft support articles are easy to read and informative, but still brief.

From the reviews I've read, it seems that the book's primary audience is people designing Windows software and writing documentation for it. The files I'm writing deal with processes such as creating new users and setting up new computers. I'm not even sure if this could be considered technical writing in the first place. I'm mostly looking for information about very specific formatting, such as image placement, font usage, and line spacing, but I also would like to read about more general topics such as word choices and overall layout.

Is this book a good choice for me? If not, are there any that would be better-suited to what I'm doing?

Answer 1

I am not specifically familiar with that book, but as much as I hate to admit it (I am not fond of microsoft) they tend to do these things well. The two pieces advice I would give you are to supplement with a traditional style guide like Chicago, and document where you draw each standard from; and to feel free to set your own style for things where the style guides are incomplete or do not fit (again documenting your standard). I would also draw from any corporate style guides or document standards as much as possible.