Technical writing newsletter 46: May 2012

Document status: archived

Microsoft Manual of Style

In January, Microsoft Press published a new edition of the Microsoft Manual of Style. The Microsoft Manual of Style is good, but Microsoft Press can make the book better. Sometimes, I struggled to understand the content because of typographic errors.

The Microsoft Manual of Style contains "best practices for writing content for the web, optimizing for accessibility, and communicating to a worldwide audience". I am specially interested in these guidelines, and I review the three applicable chapters.

Client risk test

In May 2012, HMRC published Intermediaries Legislation (IR35): business entity tests, example scenarios.

The business entity tests give small limited companies guidelines about the probability that a limited company is 'inside IR35'.

The client risk test is defective because a careful limited company is less likely to pass the test than a careless limited company. The careless limited company loses money and passes the test. A careful limited company does not lose money and fails the test.

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