Developer content

Though the content for developers and IT professionals tends to be more technical than that for a general audience, the fundamentals of the Microsoft brand voice still apply. Be warm and relaxed, crisp and clear, and ready to lend a hand as appropriate for the context. After all, when they're not coding or managing solutions, developers and IT pros are some of the very same people who play Xbox and use Office.

Of course, it's OK to assume IT pros and developers bring a fundamental understanding of programming concepts. So skip the basic knowledge and focus on technology-specific or product-specific information that helps them achieve their goals.

Two types of content form the foundation of developer documentation: reference documentation and code examples. Reference documentation provides an encyclopedia of all the programming elements, such as classes, methods, and properties, that are available for writing applications. Code examples show how to use those elements.

This section provides guidelines for creating:

• Reference documentation
• Code examples

It also has guidelines for formatting developer text elements.