Word Request – Guidelines vs. Recommendations: Understanding the Difference

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From Google developer documentation style guide:

This style guide provides editorial guidelines for writing clear and consistent Google-related developer documentation.

My native language is Russian. In Russian, we have the following related words:

  • рекомендации (= recommendations)
  • правила (= rules)
  • указания (= directions)

But it seems we don't have a word for guidelines, and so I don't completely understand how is it different from recommendations or rules/directions.

Is it correct that guidelines are stronger than recommendations, but aren't as strong as rules or directions? Or maybe not, and we can simply replace the word guidelines with recommendations?

This question is related to my own style guide in Russian. Since in Russian we don't have a word for guidelines, I'm not sure whether to call guidelines recommendations (in Russian, of course) or just use the English word guidelines without translation instead. The word recommendations (рекомендации) looks too weak to me in both English and Russian.

Best Answer

I would explain the differences between the meanings of the words 'guidelines', 'recommendations', 'rules', and 'directions' as follows:

Rules are almost like laws and are often enforced by someone. Company rules that are ignored will make someone unhappy with you.

Directions are how one person tells another person how to do something. Often used when an experienced person is teaching rules or guidelines to a trainee, often in a step by step manner.

Recommendations are like advice. They are what one person thinks should be done, as in "I would do it this way if I were you."

Guidelines are generally accepted ways of doing something. Think of them as "accepted industry best practices". You can ignore them, but others have found that they are the best way to do something.

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