There has been a bit of a running debate in my office about which style manual to follow. I have always been partial to the Chicago Manual of Style while others here want to go with the AP Stylebook. Then we get into the New York Times Manual of Style and some others (I have heard the New York Manual of Style is mostly the AP Stylebook but more approachable and a bit more complete).
I realize that, generally speaking, writing rules are somewhat flexible and the important thing is picking a style and sticking to it. I also understand it that the AP Style is more for journalists and the Chicago Style more for publishers. We are writing a web based page that sort of straddles those two but I suppose leans more heavily towards journalism.
Anyway, thought I would solicit opinions knowing that there is no “right” answer here and more a matter of preference (hence its placement in IMHO).
I’d vote for Chicago. I didn’t find it difficult to learn quickly (the major points, anyway). I also think Chicago makes it easy to find and understand the things that you may not do very often but need to deal with correctly when you do. Plenty of examples help too.
Voice of dissent here. I prefer AP, and when I built a communications group within our training division, we followed corporate standards and used AP.
I liked it a lot which is saying something for an old school MLA-follower. Plus unlike Twickster, I detest adding the **s **after the apostrophe for possessives of names ending in s.
Huh. I’m not sure which style manual I’m following, but I add the s after the apostrophe on possessives of names ending in s if the names end with the hard s sound (such as Chris), but not for names ending with a soft s sound, like James, but then, I’m an uneducated rube.
