Astyle guide is a set of standards for the writing,formatting, and design ofdocuments.[1] A book-length style guide is often called astyle manual or amanual of style. A short style guide, typically ranging from several to several dozen pages, is often called astyle sheet. The standards documented in a style guide are applicable for either general use, or prescribed use in an individual publication, particular organization, or specific field.
A style guide establishes standard style requirements to improvecommunication by ensuring consistency within and across documents. They may require certainbest practices inwriting style,usage,language composition,visual composition,orthography, andtypography by setting standards of usage in areas such aspunctuation,capitalization,citing sources, formatting of numbers and dates,table appearance and other areas. Foracademic andtechnical documents, a guide may also enforce best practices inethics (such asauthorship,research ethics, and disclosure) and compliance (technical andregulatory). For translations, a style guide may even be used to enforce consistent grammar, tone, and localization decisions such asunits of measure.[2]
Style guides may be categorized into three types:comprehensive style for general use;discipline style for specialized use, which is often specific toacademic disciplines,medicine,journalism,law,government, business, and other fields; andhouse orcorporate style, created and used by a particular publisher or organization.[3]
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Style guides vary widely in scope and size. Writers working in large industries or professional sectors may reference a specific style guide, written for usage in specialized documents within their fields. For the most part, these guides are relevant and useful for peer-to-peer specialist documentation, or to help writers working in specific industries or sectors to communicate highly technical information in scholarly articles or industrywhite papers.
Professional style guides from different countries can be referenced for authoritative advice on their respective language(s), such asHart's Rules fromOxford University Press andThe Chicago Manual of Style from theUniversity of Chicago Press. Australia has a style guide, available online, created by its government.[4]
The guides' variety in scope and length is enabled by the cascading of one style over another, analogous to how style sheets cascade inweb development and indesktop publishing withCSS styles.
In many cases, a project such as abook,journal, ormonograph series typically has a short style sheet that cascades over the larger style guide of an organization such as apublishing company, whose specific content is usually calledhouse style. Most house styles, in turn, cascade over an industry-wide or profession-wide style manual that is even more comprehensive. Examples of industry style guides include:
Finally, these reference works cascade over theorthographic norms of the language in use (for example,English orthography for English-language publications). This, of course, may be subject to national variety, such asBritish, American, Canadian, and Australian English.
Some style guides focus on specific topic areas such asgraphic design, includingtypography. Website style guides cover a publication's visual and technical aspects, as well as text.
Guides in specific scientific and technical fields may covernomenclature to specify names or classification labels that are clear, standardized, andontologically sound (e.g.,taxonomy,chemical nomenclature, andgene nomenclature).
Style guides that coverusage may suggest descriptive terms for people which avoidracism,sexism,homophobia, etc. Style guides increasingly incorporateaccessibility conventions for audience members with visual, mobility, or other disabilities.[5]
Since the beginning of the digital era, websites have allowed for an expansion of style guide conventions to account for digital behavior such asscreen reading.[6] Screen reading requires web style guides to focus more intensively on a user experience that is subject to multichannel surfing. Though web style guides can vary widely, they tend to prioritize similar values about brevity, terminology, syntax, tone, structure, typography, graphics, and errors.[6]
Most style guides are revised periodically to accommodate changes in conventions and usage. The update frequency andrevision control are determined by the subject. For style manuals inreference-work format, neweditions typically appear every 1 to 20 years. For example, theAP Stylebook is revised every other year (since 2020).[7]The Chicago Manual of Style is in its 18th edition, while theAmerican Psychological Association (APA) and ASA styles are each in their 7th edition as of 2025. Many house styles and individual project styles change more frequently, especially for new projects.
