Re: Language Check List

["Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

Stan Schwartz wrote:



>Off the top of my 
>nearly-bald-and-whatever-hair-is-left-is-grey head,

Yeah, me too, except for the ponytail ;-)


I suggest: Errors 
>of omission, spelling, grammar, bulky phrasing, improper word usage, 
>and punctuation. There must be others. If you find that many of the 
>same kinds of errors are recurring, you can devote adequate resources 
>toward correcting them. 

IMHO this is the wrong focus. All of the error types you are talking about certainly annoy the hell out of me, but I have yet to detect any resonance in management types.

Here is where I'd go: Focus on impenetrable, misleading, ambiguous, and confusing messages. Point out how these diminish the user's real experience of the product, increase hotline support call volume, and risk marking the product as of low quality and low usability.

If you want to talk to a manager about the fit-and-finish issues that drive copyeditors mad, maybe talk to the marketing director or the corporate communications manager, who might actually care about these superficialities as much as I do ;-) Otherwise, you will just be seen as annoying and trivial.

Dick


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Collect Royalties, Not Rejection Letters! Tell us your rejection story when you 
submit your manuscript to iUniverse Nov. 6 -Dec. 15 and get five free copies of 
your book. What are you waiting for? http://www.iuniverse.com/media/techwr

Have you looked at the new content on TECHWR-L lately?
See http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ and check it out.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.