Speaking in Tongues

Last month I stated this is not a place for jargon. I felt that was important enough to call out. I certainly am being called to task for that.

Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Information Design>Writing>Minimalism

The Spirit of Paulo Freire in Blogland: Struggling for a Knowledge-Log Revolution

Weblogs and knowledge-logs, or 'blogs' and 'klogs,' have emerged into the post-dot.com bubble online world as a notable (and often non-commercial) social phenomenon. While some hear echoes of Web homepage voices from the mid-1990s, the blogging phenomenon during the Iraq war may have taken Web cybercultures in new directions.

Boese, Christine. Into the Blogosphere (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging

A Spoken Genre Gets Written: Online Football Commentaries in English, French, and Spanish    

Many recent studies on computer-mediated communication (CMC) have addressed the question of orality and literacy. This article examines a relatively recent subgenre of CMC, that of written online sports commentary, that provides us with written CMC that is clearly based on firmly established oral genres, those of radio and television sports commentary. The examples analyzed are from two English, two French, and two Spanish online football (soccer) commentaries. The purpose of the study is to examine oral traits and genre mixing in online football commentaries in the three languages and carryover from the spoken genres of radio and television commentaries to this developing genre, following Ferguson. Special attention is paid to Web page design. The study reveals that form and content of online football commentaries are strongly affected by the style of the online newspaper.

Pérez-Sabater, Carmen, Gemma Peña-Martínez, Ed Turney and Begoña Montero-Fleta. Written Communication (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Online

Standards for Online Content Authors

The standards on this page include non-technical standards relevant to all web authors and technical standards relevant to some web authors.

McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2005). Articles>Web Design>Style Guides>Writing

Stop Creating ROT (Redundant, Outdated and Trivial Content)

Redundant, outdated and trivial content (ROT): you're soaking in it. First and second generation web sites and intranets are full of ROT. It's almost inevitable when you have a web site but no system for reviewing content regularly.

McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Strategies for Condensing Online Text  

Online writing experts recommend that writers and editors write less text when composing for the screen. To do so effectively, writers need specific strategies for condensing text that go beyond the usual advice for clear, concise writing. In addition, they should be cautious when advised to arbitrarily cut the word count in half, as some experts suggest. This paper offers strategies for condensing online text that result in fewer words overall. It also suggests strategies for making online text seem shorter, even if the word count remains unchanged. This paper concludes by discussing the risks of condensing text too rigorously. Providing complete information with nothing extraneous requires knowing not only what readers need, but what they do not need.

Troffer, Alysson M. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Writing>Web Design

A Style in Technical Writing   

This course is designed to teach you to: recognize the variety and characteristics of styles of technical communication; adapt your writing style for different aims and audiences; revise efficiently and appropriately; and articulate reasons for revisions in your writing.

Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (2009). Articles>Information Design>Visual>Technical Writing

Substantive Editing: Building the Logical Inner Sanctum  

The inner sanctum of any good piece of writing is a solid, logical core. To produce the logical core, a writer frequently has to synthesize complex information, which means understanding it well enough to transform often muddled and random detail to clear and easy to apprehend expression. Synthesis of new information, being one of the most difficult thinking skills, can require more of a writer than the writer has time for. An editor's job, from the first draft to the last, is to help build the writing around an appropriate logical core. In this workshop, participants will practice techniques that editors can use to make sure that they find, or help the writer find, the core - what users need to know, and the order in which they need to know it. Participants will form groups to scan a document, using a checklist of tips to spot problems in the document's structure. Each group will report its findings to the larger group.

Nahigian, Alma L. and Jacquelyn Malone. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Editing>Information Design>Writing

Tagline Blues: What's the Site About?

A website's tagline must explain what the company does and what makes it unique among competitors. Two questions can help you assess your own tagline: Would it work just as well for competitors? Would any company ever claim the opposite?

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2001). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Teaching Web Design in the Technical Writing Service Course: Steps Toward a Planned Evolution  

This study uses an online survey of technical communication educators to examine trends in the technical writing service course with regard to web design. Participants for the study were representatives of programs in technical communication in four-year institutions of higher education throughout the United States. The study contributes to research into the function of the technical writing service course in the current technological climate. Identifying trends is one component in an evaluation that will aid effective evolution of this significant course.

Brewer, Pam Estes. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Web Design>Technical Writing

Tech Writing 2.0: Special Report on New Trends in User Documentation

This report outlines the developments in what many are calling "Web 2.0" and the impact that these developments may have on technical and user documentation. We've called these trends "Tech Writing 2.0". Tech Writing 2.0 promises a new means of communication that business can use to promote and support their products and services. This means that the nature of technical communication will change.

Pratt, Ellis. Cherryleaf (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>User Centered Design

Technical Writers and Interaction Design

Technical writers are oft-forgotten constituents in the product development cycle. Although they are rarely tasked with participating in product requirements definition and product design, technical writers are in a unique position to affect product design. However, they will find that subtlety and subterfuge are sometimes necessary to make a politically correct impact in an organization that has not embraced interaction design as a formal part of the development process.

Calde, Steve. Cooper Interaction Design (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Interaction Design

Technical Writing in Everyday Life: One User's Experience

The experience of setting up a new home theater system also sharply reminded me of what it is like to look at something as a new user: staring at a bunch of knobs and holes for the first time, holding a tassel of wire in one hand and a manual in the other, and really just wanting the darn piece of ?%^%! to do what it's supposed to do.

Vedrody, Sarah. MetroVoice (2002). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Technical Writing

There's More to the Title than Meets the Eye: Exploring the Possibilities    

There is little research on the use of titles in academic articles, and even less on different types of titles. In this article Crosby's taxonomy of titles [1] is brought up-to date and extended. Twelve types of titles are distinguished. The author argues that it would be helpful to discuss these different types with student writers.

Hartley, James. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Writing>Information Design

Three Reasons to Add Articles to your Web Site

Even if you're selling furniture or herbal supplements, the addition of a large number of articles to your site offers several benefits.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Three Reasons Why Content is Still King

Back in the late nineties, the phrase ‘Content is King’ was repeated and repeated and repeated by site owners and marketers alike. The belief was that the more content you had, the greater the number of visitors you would attract. Of course, the content had to be well written, relevant and easy to find. Many sites built very successful businesses as a result.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Tips for Writing Effective Training Material for Beginners  

You may think that because you're an expert, it will be easy for you to write training materials for your low-level user base. But it can be tough to think like a beginner. Use these tips to create appropriate instructions for newbies.

Dray, Jeff. TechRepublic (2003). Articles>Writing>Instructional Design>Technical Writing

Top Seven Tips to Writing an Effective Blog

If ever there were a perfect tool for the corporate communication expert, blogging is it. Think of a blog as the 3D version of your capabilities, one in which you provide context and meaning to your work experience and expertise. So let's talk about how to blog well.

Weil, Debbie. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging

Two Approaches to Modularity: Comparing the STOP Approach with Structured Writing  

The first time I heard of the STOP paper was sometime in the mid 80's when the historian of technical writing, John Brockman, phoned me to ask if my Information Mapping method of structured writing derived from the STOP method. At the time I told Brockman that there was no direct relationship between our two approaches since I'd never read the paper. When the editor of this journal sent me the STOP document in preparation for writing this paper, I read it with delight. Although our two innovations date from the same period, the STOP authors and I were working in two completely different disciplines, cultures, organizations, and locations. These two approaches resulted in modularity - albeit of quite different kinds. The main purpose of this project is to compare and contrast these two approaches to modularity. I should note here that I approach this article principally as an exercise in historical comparison, rather than as an exposition of my current views, about which I will say a bit at the end of this article.

Horn, Robert E. Journal of Computer Documentation (1999). Articles>Information Design>Technical Writing>History

Two Different Approaches to Writing Web Pages

It took me a while to realize this about my own approach to web page writing, but I have two different ways of writing.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Use Old Words When Writing for Findability

Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won't find your site.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Search

Use Product and Service Names as Keywords on Your Web Pages

I am quite surprised by what I have learned about the effectiveness of product names as organic search keywords.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Metadata

Using the Web in the Writing Classroom: A Preliminary Study  

Popular opinion maintains that people should be able to locate, collect, and evaluate information on the world-wide web without any substantial instruction. To test this premise eighty students at four disciplinary divergent schools participated in a study to evaluate their performance in retrieving and assessing electronic information. While the author is willing to admit that changes in performance are likely to occur over time, the present study found students (and by extension employee) performance to be relatively poor.

Rubens, Philip. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Education>Web Design>Writing

Using Web Tools to Communicate about Risks to the Public  

Communicating health, safety, and environmental risks to the public and to the scientific, political, and business communities is a persuasive task as well as an informative one. The job is made easier if the assertions about risk can be backed up with empirical data. But risks are often characterized through the analysis of data sets containing thousands if not millions of measurements. Further, the collection of these data is often conducted by many research teams, and the results often appear in disparate portions of the scientific literature or regulatory reports. On top of all this, environmental, safety, and health data compilations are frequently massive. As a result, finding needed data can be difficult, and understanding it can be bewildering. Web tools are available that synthesize these data and present the information they contain in an organized, understand-able fashion. In doing so, they help risk communicators to focus their writing on a specific topic and to base their assertions on hard facts.

O'Hara, Frederick M., Jr. and Frederick W. Stoss. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Risk Communication>Web Design>Writing

Watch for the Moment When You Hit Your "Confident Writing Zone"

When you have written a few pages that came out easily, and are all in the same confident, relaxed tone, that's the time to sit back and see what you have done. Re-read those pages. Become intimately familiar with the tone and style you have adopted. And then...at least this is what I did...go back and edit your earlier pages, particularly those which no longer seem to ring true, or feel quite right.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing