RE: Formality is going bye-bye?

["Joe Malin" <jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com>]

I looked at this with an editor's eye.

I note that this isn't really technical documentation. I would classify
it as more of a marketing piece. It's intended to publicize Gmail chat.
Marketing material *should* be less formal than technical material. The
reader has less time to read it, and less motivation. On a certain
level, it needs to compete with everyday advertising.

Given that, I like the tone and voice of the language, overall. It's
simple and straightforward. It uses the imperative effectively and uses
strong, active voice except for one sentence, and that sentence is still
a good one.

If I were editing this as technical work, I would note that it uses
vague words like "buzz", glurge like "but wait, there's more..." and
contractions. Still, I think that with only a few changes it would look
good in a technical document.

Of course, it wouldn't be sufficient as documentation, but it could be
part of it.

Formality and politeness have a role to play, but so does freshness and
engagement that makes the material interesting without dumbing it down.

Joe


Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com 
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.	

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jmalin=tuvox -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jmalin=tuvox -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Collin T
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 8:57 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Formality is going bye-bye?

Hello All,

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