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I think that my job is to provide my client with my expert opinion about
how things should be done. And if they want things done differently, I
defer to the rule, "the customer is always right" (unless someone is
going to be maimed or get killed--and that isn't customer's intention).
Were I in your situation, the conversation might go something like this:
Client: We'd like you to write all numbers, even those less than 10,
using Arabic numeric symbols. We don't want any numbers spelled out.
Me: I'd be happy to do that. However, I'm sure you realize that doing
that goes against the written conventions of the past 100 years and will
lead some readers to think you messed up. On top of that, there is no
research that I know of demonstrating that readers understand Arabic
numeric symbols, for numbers one through nine, better than spelled out
numbers. Are you sure you want to do that?
Client: Yes, we're sure.
Me: Okey doke.
Leonard
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Deborah Hemstreet
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:03 AM
To: .TECHWR-L
Subject: one vs 1
Hi All,
I've written a brochure for a company to distribute to their employees.
I am in somewhat of a dilemma: Corrections have been returned and they
would
like all numbers to be printed as numbers (1 not one).
However, the RULES of writing say to spell out all numbers less than 10.
When writing a statement such as: "There is a one week waiting period
(seven
consecutive calendar days)"... I have to be honest, I believe the target
audience will absorb the information better as: "There is a 1 week
waiting
period (7 consecutive calendar days)"...
What do you think?
--
Deborah http://www.tech-challenged.com
dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
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Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- soleratec -dot- com -dot-
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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