The German national standard DIN 5008 by Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) specifies writing and layout rules for word processing. As such it is one of the fundamental standards for office communication and administrative work in Germany. Today, the standard is maintained by the Normenausschuss Informationstechnik und Anwendungen – Fachbereich Bürotechnik, Bankwesen und elektronisches Geschäftswesen (NA 043-03).
Contents
The rules and recommendations for word processing and typewriting define the typographically correct usage of punctuation and characters for words, mathematical signs, abbreviations, formulas as well as the proper representation of numbers (including dates and times), the usage of text emphasizes, the layout and organization of tables, outlines and templates in order to create well-arranged, easily accessible and purposeful text documents.
While DIN 5008 covered text processing with typewriters up to 1996, newer revisions discuss issues related to word processing on PCs as well.