From Developer Community

The style guides do not exist in a vacuum. Changes impact all manuals and program texts. They must be distributed to numerous writers, editors, proofreaders, and developers worldwide. Depending on the type of change, it can impact large quantities of existing text in a number of products.

Adding New Points

Adding new points to the style guides that are consistent with predominant existing usage (in our products) is not very problematic. Any violating instances need to be fixed, but because most instances comply, there are not many to change and many of them can be left until bug reports are filed or the texts are otherwise modified.

If the point goes against most instances in our products, the consequences are the same as modifying an existing point.

Modifying Existing Points

The consequences here are significant. For a situation that appears rarely, it may not be much more of a problem than when adding a new point. However, for a more common situation, much time is needed and the risk of serious inconsistency is high. The following points need to be considered before making a decision:

• How often does the current usage appear and in what documents and products?

• How consistently has the current usage been applied?

• How apparent will inconsistencies be?

• How much effort is required to reach consistency or sufficient consistency for the products involved?

• When can a change be implemented safely? Changes require retranslation and even minor changes break existing translations so the English is used instead of the translation. Is now an appropriate time? If not, what are the consequences of waiting? Will more effort be required to implement the change later?

• How valuable is the change compared to the consequences of making it?

Unfortunately, in many cases the cost (in time, in inconsistency, and in money used for paying employees and translators) outweighs the benefits of making the change. Some changes can be accepted when the consequences on consistency or the significance of the inconsistency is low.

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