TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE: Need Your Opinions re Simplified English (Can I quote you?)
Subject:RE: Need Your Opinions re Simplified English (Can I quote you?) From:Marguerite Krupp <mkrupp -at- cisco -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 31 May 2002 12:56:27 -0400
Although this discussion focuses on the methodology known as "Simplified
English," you might also look at the fairly lengthy descriptions of "Plain
English" in Karen Schriver's book _Dynamics in Document Design_. Karen looks
at this from a usability and a design perspective, not as a religious
argument.
Frankly, I've always thought that the "Fog Index" was well named,
particularly for the amount of "fog" that discussions about it always
involve.
Using short words makes sense, particularly for the online world, but only -
as others have pointed out - if they're the correct words for that audience
and purpose.
The subject-verb-object sentence structure rubric is incredibly boring to
write, which generally means that it's boring to read, leading to
inattention on the part of the reader, which can lead to the type of
consequences that "Simplified English" is supposed to prevent. (Run that
beauty through your Fog checker!)
On the plus side, it's always good for writers to be mindful of their word
choices, and SE enforces that. It also means that you often have to think
visually, rather than verbally, to get your ideas across. Also a good thing
in many cases.
Bottom line: I can learn something from restrictive methodologies like SE
and Info Mapping, but I don't have to be married to them to learn from them.
And yes, you may (and "can") quote me.
Marguerite
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Check out RoboDemo for tutorials! It makes creating full-motion software
demonstrations and other onscreen support materials easy and intuitive.
Need RoboHelp? Save $100 on RoboHelp Office in May with our mail-in rebate.
Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by May 15. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
---
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.
