Minimalism favors short, task-oriented content over long, narrative material. Often based upon minimalist theory, the 'Plain language' movement seeks to present information in a way that makes it as easy as possible for people to understand, most often by removing unnecessary complexity and specialized terminology from documents.
#32097
Review: Clear, Brief and Bold: Will Strunk’s Legacy
A masterpiece of concision so tightly written that you almost don't need to read past the table of contents.
West, Mike. MBWest.com (2004). Articles>Reviews>Writing>Minimalism
#32171
If you document everything, you are giving everything an equal weight. Do that for a complex system, and you are buried in detail. In any system there are some aspects that are more important than the others, key aspects of the system that once understood, will help someone to learn more. The art in documentation is to find how to document these aspects as clearly as possible. In this you emphasize these areas, and leave the details for the code.
Fowler, Martin. Distributed Computing (1997). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Minimalism
#32694
Tools and Techniques for Working with Subject-Matter Experts to Create Plain Language Manuals 
This paper discusses tools and techniques for editors and writers who need to work with subject matter experts (i.e., engineers, programmers, accountants, etc.) to create plain language manuals.
Rosenberg, Nad. Clarity (2008). Articles>Documentation>SMEs>Minimalism
#33329
According to Plain English Campaign (www.plainenglish.co.uk), plain English is "… something that the intended audience can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it. Plain English takes into account design and layout as well as language." Many organisations have found that plain English brings commercial advantages.
Unwalla, Mike. TechScribe (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism
#33333
Plain English is good for increasing the quality of written documents. Unfortunately, it has limits in many technical situations. We need a special form of language, known as a controlled language, to overcome those limits. One particular controlled language is ASD Simplified Technical English.
Unwalla, Mike. TechScribe (2007). Articles>Writing>Minimalism>Controlled Vocabulary
#33448
Hyped Web Stories Are Irrelevant
The fads and big deals that get the press coverage are not important for running a workhorse website. To serve your customers, it's far better to emphasize simplicity and quality than to chase buzzwords.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Minimalism
#33961
When you’re writing for the web, try to keep your sentences under 20 words in length. Your content will be easier to read this way. This is because it’s easier to read a few short sentences than it is to read one big one.
Hamill, David. Good Usability (2009). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Minimalism
#34123
Unfortunately, there seems to be no such thing as simplicity-checking software - even remotely like the description above. Audience Dialogue tried to persuade a few software developers to make their fortunes by writing this software, but with no success so far. In the meantime, there are a few widely available tools to use.
Audience Dialogue (2007). Articles>Language>Minimalism>International
#34125
Do you want faster-loading Web pages? Learn how you can make the browsing experience better for dial-up users by reducing loading times by as much as 80 percent, in some cases.
Kotrotsos, Marco. IBM (2009). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Minimalism
#34130
Professionalizing Plain Language: A Postcard on Current Developments 
With the passing of the Brayley Bill in Congress, the significance of plain language has become even more apparent to technical communicators. The author lays out a step-by-step plan to maintain the relevance of plain language as an important and necessary profession.
James, Neil. Intercom (2009). Articles>TC>Writing>Minimalism
#34321
Seven Interface Design Techniques to Simplify and De-Clutter Your Interfaces
What is simplicity? Simplicity is the quality of being natural, plain and easy to understand. It is not surprising then that simplicity is often thrived for in user interface design. Most people naturally dislike complexity in devices and software. Yes, some people find joy in figuring out how something works, but for most of us, being unable to operate a device leads to wasted time and frustration, and that’s not a good thing. If you can take a complex device or a piece of software and somehow rearrange, reorganize and redesign the interface to make it easy to use and understand, then you’re well on the way to delivering a better user experience. In this article I’m going to talk about 7 practical techniques that you can utilize in web design to make your websites or web applications simpler and less cluttered.
Webdesigner Depot (2009). Design>Web Design>User Interface>Minimalism
#34510
Making Content Understandable: Inherent Usability in Plain Language
Using an example from his personal life, Haller shows how government writing should be simplified to ensure that a reader can understand government documents. He also discusses the importance of passing the Brayley Bill, the plain language bill.
Haller, Thom. Intercom (2009). Articles>Language>Usability>Minimalism
#34577
The Myth of Simplicity and Complexity in Help Authoring
Although simplicity is a noble ideal, and something like “simplify complexity” could be the mission statement of any technical writer, simplicity is in fact a complex undertaking. The interplay between simplicity and complexity is what technical writing is all about.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Documentation>Help>Minimalism
#34804
Cut, Cut, Cut your Content and Procedures
Sure. We’ve been reducing word count in procedures for some time. It’s time to do more, however. As noted in an earlier post, we have to think mobile. Think small screens and small devices. Screen real estate will be at a premium.
2moro Docs (2009). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Minimalism
#34978
Write Everything as if Writing for the Web
Writing tightly means packing the most information into the least amount of space. It's not easy, but when you do it, the result is like magic. The key to being an effective writer is to keep what you’re writing short, to the point, and easy to read. Like the best writing on the Web.
Nesbitt, Scott. ScottNesbitt.net (2009). Articles>Writing>Advice>Minimalism
#35024
The Minimalist Principle: Omit Needless Things
Minimalism is something people might strive for, but they don’t know where to start.
Babauta, Leo. Zen Habits (2009). Articles>Writing>Minimalism
#35026
Plain English Is the Best Policy
The health care reform bill now under consideration in the House of Representatives includes a proposal that certain disclosures in insurance policies be made in “plain language.” Another piece of legislation now being considered by both houses of Congress would likewise require uniform and simplified coverage information, much like what’s required on nutritional labels. These are excellent proposals, but they do not go far enough. Plain-language disclosures of some policy information and consumer-friendly labels are no substitutes for making an entire policy readable.
Cogan, John Aloysius. New York Times, The (2009). Articles>Writing>Policies and Procedures>Minimalism
#35090
Be vicious when you edit. Vicious. Follow these recommendations with zealous fervor. They help your writing say what it should in a way we’ll understand.
Govella, Austin. Thinking and Making (2009). Articles>Writing>Editing>Minimalism
#35125
Sometimes, Simple is the Way to Go
I’m advocating boiling the documentation down to the essentials. Remove any superfluous material. Tell the user how to do things with a piece of software or a gadget, not what that something can do. You might wind up with documentation that’s just a set of procedures connected together by linking material and cross references. Don’t bog them down with what’s not necessary for them to get things done in a fast and efficient way.
Nesbitt, Scott. Communications from DMN (2009). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Minimalism
#35195
Can You Design Your Way to a “No User Documentation” Approach?
For simple, commonly known actions in a closed environment, you probably can design your way to a “no user documentation” approach. Good design can also lead to less documentation. However, customers may expect to do more than that with a product and, in those situations, documentation can play a key role in meeting those expectations.
Pratt, Ellis. Cherryleaf (2009). Articles>Documentation>Usability>Minimalism
#35203
Simplicity Trumps Complexity….Mostly!
One of the tips for creating a help project is to keeps things simple. This applies as much to the content as it does to the manner in which it is produced. The tool used to produce it has a big bearing on how simple the documentation process is of course but sometimes you just have to bend the rules.
McAndrew, Colum. RoboColum(n), The (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Minimalism
#35218
A Strident Defense of Mediocre Formatting
Formatting automation removes cost from the process of creating and delivering content. For technical documents that change often and are perhaps delivered in multiple languages, it removes a lot of cost. Essentially, we can produce documents inexpensively and give more people access to them as a direct result of lower cost, or we can climb on our typographic high horse and whine about word spacing. I’m with the noisome fanboys.
O'Keefe, Sarah S. Scriptorium (2009). (Afrikaans) Articles>Document Design>Typography>Minimalism
#35219
In reality, the user just wants a brief, clear explanation of a concept or task. The user will glance and skim — reading behaviors hardly worthy of the elitist grammarian who argues the finer points of “which” versus “that” in restrictive clauses.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Document Design>Technical Writing>Minimalism
#35441
The relative decline of the book is part of a broader shift toward short and to the point. Small cultural bits—written words, music, video—have never been easier to record, store, organize, and search, and thus they are a growing part of our enjoyment and education. The new brevity has many virtues.
Cowen, Tyler. Wilson Quarterly (2009). Articles>Publishing>Online>Minimalism
#35459
Minimizing Complexity In User Interfaces
Clean. Easy to use. User-friendly. Intuitive. This mantra is proclaimed by many but often gets lost in translation. The culprit: complexity. How one deals with complexity can make or break an application. A complex interface can disorient the user in a mild case and completely alienate them in an extreme case. But if you take measures first to reduce actual complexity and then to minimize perceived complexity, the user will be rewarded with a gratifying experience.
Tate, Tyler. Smashing (2009). Design>User Interface>Minimalism
