| 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.
-
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.
-
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., , , , ).
