Moemu/skills

Simplified Chinese Technical Documentation Writing Standards

Merges four authoritative standards: Ruan Yifeng's Chinese Technical Documentation Writing Standards (layout and structure), Microsoft's Chinese (Simplified) Localization Style Guide (localized tone and terminology), Microsoft's Writing Style Guide (writing philosophy), and ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (controlled writing and safety-critical documentation). Full original texts of the first three are backed up in references/sources/ (Ruan Yifeng's standards and Microsoft Writing Style Guide are git submodules requiring initialization; the MS Chinese guide is provided as a converted draft in the repository). The core ideas of STE are extracted in references/asd-ste100-core.md, and a quick checklist is available in references/quick-check.md.

Three Basic Principles (Microsoft Voice)

Before writing every sentence, remember: Scan first, read later. Readers usually scan for answers, not read word by word.

1. Warm and natural – Speak like you're talking to a colleague, not writing an official document. Use everyday language, avoid formal expressions.
2. Concise and clear – Use short sentences over long ones; delete any word you can. Short is good.
3. Helpful – Stand on the reader's side and tell them what to do next, rather than just piling up facts.

Hard Typographic Rules

These rules are almost uncontroversial; always enforce them when writing Chinese technical content:

Spaces between Chinese and English

• Leave a half-width space between Chinese characters and English words: 本文介绍如何快速启动 Windows 系统.
• Between Chinese and Arabic numerals: Either space or no space is acceptable, but the whole document must be consistent (this standard recommends a space).
• Leave a space between a number and its English unit: 16 GB; no space between a number and percent sign or Chinese unit: 6.5%, 1000 元.
• No space between English/numerals and full-width punctuation: 他的电脑是 MacBook Air。 (not MacBook Air 。)

Punctuation

• Use full-width punctuation in Chinese sentences (，。：；？！“”‘’（）、《》); use half-width punctuation when the whole sentence is in English.
• Colons: Use full-width ： in document body; use half-width : (followed by a space) in software UI strings, e.g., 错误: %1.
• Question/exclamation marks: Use full-width ？！ in documents; use half-width ? ! in software UI.
• Use the Chinese enumeration comma 、 for parallel items, even if the items are in English: Google、Facebook、腾讯, with 和 before the last item.
• For quotations, use full-width double quotes “”, and when a quote appears within a quote, use full-width single quotes ‘’.
• Use full-width parentheses （） for supplementary explanations; do not add spaces before or after parentheses. If the content inside is purely English/numerals, half-width () may be used.
• When parentheses contain an annotation, the period goes outside the closing parenthesis: 请参照第 1.3 节（见第 26 页）。
• Ellipsis: In document body, use the Chinese ellipsis ⋯⋯ (two character widths, six dots; do not use ... or 。。。); in UI strings, use the English ....
• Do not combine ellipsis with 等: either 香蕉、苹果、梨⋯⋯ or 香蕉、苹果、梨等水果.
• Avoid exclamation marks; never use them consecutively (！！ is forbidden).
• Em dash occupies two Chinese character widths: ————.
• Use ～ or — for numerical ranges: 132 kg～234 kg; when the two numbers have different units, both include their units.
• Use half-width hyphens for compound words and numbering: 氧化-还原反应, 图 1-1.

Numbers

• Always use half-width numerals, never full-width １００.
• Add thousands separator for numbers of 1000 or more: 1,258,000; optional for 4-digit numbers, but consistent throughout the document.
• Use symbols or Chinese names for currency: $1,000 or 1,000 美元.
• 增加到 means the amount reached; 增加了 means the increment; forbidden: 降低 N 倍/减少 N 倍 – use 降低/减少百分之几 instead.
• Use specific measure words instead of always using 个: 两位研究人员 is better than 2个研究人员.

Sentences and Paragraphs

• Keep sentences short: ideally under 20 characters per clause without punctuation; over 40 characters is unacceptable. A long sentence connected by commas should not exceed 100 characters or 3 lines.
• Use simple and compound sentences; avoid long prenominal modifiers (don't pile too many adjectives before a noun).
• Use affirmative sentences instead of negative ones: 请确认装置的电源已关闭 (Please confirm the device power is off) instead of 请确认没有接通装置的电源 (Please confirm the device power is not connected).
• Forbid double negatives: 用户必须拥有删除权限，才能删除此文件 (The user must have delete permission to delete this file) instead of 没有删除权限的用户，不能删除此文件 (A user without delete permission cannot delete this file).
• Use active voice instead of passive: 假如尚未安装这个软件 (If the software has not been installed yet) instead of 假如此软件尚未被安装 (If the software has not yet been installed by someone).
• One paragraph, one topic; place the topic sentence at the start; paragraphs should not exceed 7 lines, ideally within 4 lines; separate paragraphs with a blank line, and do not indent the first line.
• Use 的/地/得 correctly: adjective + 的 + noun; adverb + 地 + verb; verb + 得 + complement.
• Use 的 sparingly: delete it if it doesn't affect meaning; having two or three 的 in one sentence makes it verbose.
• Pronouns (其/该/此/这) must refer to a unique and clear antecedent; omit pronouns when possible (Microsoft: you don't need to translate every 'your'/'it' as 你的/它).

Tone and Word Choice (Microsoft Voice in Chinese)

• **Use