ste-writing-style

name	ste-writing-style
type	Skill
title	Simplified Technical English (ASD-STE100) Writing Style
description	Guide technical documentation creation and editing according to ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE). Enforces controlled vocabulary, strict grammar constraints (active voice, max 20-word instructions, simple tenses), and extensible project-specific dictionaries. Cross-references the `information-architecture` skill suite for automated vocabulary discovery. Use whenever writing, reviewing, or refactoring technical manuals, API documentation, runbooks, SOPs, or software specs in STE style.
tags	["ste","asd-ste100","technical-writing","controlled-vocabulary","documentation","information-architecture"]
status	verified
generated	2026-08-06T00:00:00.000Z
sources	["https://www.asd-ste100.org/","https://github.com/dandye/information-architecture"]
resource	https://github.com/dandye/ste-writing-style
personas	["technical-writer","documentation-engineer","software-engineer"]

Simplified Technical English (STE) Writing Style Skill

This skill provides step-by-step guidance for writing and editing technical documentation in accordance with ASD-STE100 (Simplified Technical English). STE is a controlled language standard designed to eliminate ambiguity, enhance readability, and facilitate translation for non-native English speakers.

This skill features an extensible dictionary system, allowing projects to integrate domain-specific Technical Names (TN) and Technical Verbs (TV) alongside standard STE core vocabulary. It also cross-references the information-architecture skill suite (specifically vocabulary-overlap-analysis and thesaurus-generate) to harvest and structure project vocabulary automatically.

---

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Writing or editing user guides, API documentation, system manuals, standard operating procedures (SOPs), or engineering runbooks.
• Auditing existing documentation for clarity, sentence length, passive voice, or unapproved jargon.
• Building or updating a project's custom controlled dictionary (.ste-dictionary.yaml or ste-dictionary.json).
• Refactoring complex technical prose into concise, unambiguous STE sentences.

---

Workflow

Phase 1: Vocabulary Discovery & Dictionary Extension (Cross-Reference)

Before writing or rewriting content for a project, establish or update the project's Extensible Technical Dictionary.

1. Extract Domain Terminology: If analyzing an existing codebase or document corpus for project-specific terms, run the vocabulary-overlap-analysis skill from the information-architecture suite (or command /ia:vocab-overlap):

   • Set TARGET_PATH to your codebase/documentation folder.
   • Run the analysis to identify unique named entities, proprietary product names, software UI elements, acronyms, and technical jargon.

2. Categorize Extracted Terms: Cross-reference extracted terms using thesaurus-generate (/ia:thesaurus) or named-entity-normalization (/ia:entity-normalize) to classify them into:

   • Technical Names (TN): Nouns/noun phrases representing domain concepts, parts, tools, UI controls, data structures, or hardware (e.g., , , , ).