Always use active voice, except when it is awkward to do so. The tutorial tells the user how to accomplish a task, and should give instructions clearly and concisely. Avoid using "must," "need to," and the like. These words are redundant in a tutorial, since the reader assumes you are outlining necessary steps to accomplish a task. Also avoid using "maybe," "might," and other words that indicate you are unsure about the subject matter. Your tutorial should cover a subject authoritatively. The reader should never be concerned about unknown effects of following the tutorial.

Write in the present tense. A good rule of thumb is that the words "will" and "shall" are almost never needed in describing what the user should do or see. They add unnecessary length to sentences and can confuse translators. They are also often indicators of passive voice; refer also to Section 8.4.1, “Active Voice”.

Do not use the first person "I," "we," or "us" to refer to yourself the writer (whether including the reader or not), the Fedora Documentation Project, the Fedora community, or any other group. Do not refer to users with a third person pronoun ("he," "she," or "he or she") or the word "one." It is acceptable to refer to the reader with the second person pronoun "you."

Avoid negative words when possible, since they give documentation an overly dogmatic tone. The word "avoid" is useful for this purpose. Note that contractions are often used for negative words such as don't or can't. Refer to Contractions.

Avoid overuse of "typically," "usually," "most of," "many," and the like. While occasional use of these constructions is acceptable, overuse reduces the authority of your documentation. The documentation should adequately cover a stock installation of Fedora Core. It is impossible for a tutorial-length document to cover every possible configuration scenario. Address the most common scenarios and note discrepancies only as required.

Avoid covering redundant material, such as how to update a Fedora Core system. These overarching topics may be covered in other tutorials. Writers frequently violate this guideline because they feel their tutorial is not long enough. Keep your tutorial from wandering off-topic. Instead, refer the reader to a separate tutorial whenever possible for complete coverage of that topic.

Avoid statements such as "One of the most important things to do is XYZ." If the procedure is important, the reader already expects it to be in your tutorial. The converse is also true: If a procedure appears in your tutorial, the reader expects it is important. This is especially true if you use a whole section for the procedure in question. Merely state, "Do XYZ." Then elaborate as required. If the whole section concerns how to do XYZ, leave this sentence out entirely. Refer also to Golden Rule 4: Be objective.

Use precise words for actions users should take. Do not instruct users to "go" to a selection, or "find" a menu.

	Do Not Discriminate Against Non-GUI Users
	If you are writing about a GUI-only application, you may use "click" freely. If you are writing about an application that has a text-mode interface, use "select" instead as shown above.

This section contains tips on how to use DocBook tags more effectively in your documentation.

8.4.9.1. Admonitions

Avoid overuse of admonitions. Keep admonitions short and effective by using only the most important material inside the admonition. Move any background material required to explain the admonition statements outside the admonition. Use a short but descriptive title for an admonition. Use title case for the admonition title.

	Use sfdisk to check input
	The sfdisk command accepts a script file as standard input to set up partitions on a hard disk. Sometimes sfdisk will simply reject an erroneous input file. In other cases, it will use the input verbatim, writing an incorrect partition table to your disk. Always use the sfdisk -n command to check your input file before writing to the disk.

Example 8.21. Incorrect: Lengthy admonition

The sfdisk command accepts a script file as standard input to set up partitions on a hard disk. Sometimes sfdisk will simply reject an erroneous input file. In other cases, it will use the input verbatim, writing an incorrect partition table to your disk.

	Check Input
	Always use the sfdisk -n command to check your input file before writing to the disk.

Example 8.22. Correct: Brief admonition

Avoid punctuation in titles for sections or admonitions, except for commas only where demanded. Use a title that says something about the admonition comment, such as "Reboot Required," instead of simply using the admonition type for a title ("Note").

Follow the capitalization rules for headings in the title of an admonition.