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Subject:Re[2]: What's important & readability From:Virginia Day <Virginia_Day -at- DATACARD -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 27 Jun 1997 09:30:15 -0500
I agree, Pat. IMHO, this ties in with readability. While readability
tools cannot indicate whether our writing makes sense, such tools can
be a great indicator of clear vs. obscure writing style. If you run a
tool against your writing and come out with a 12th grade level
(somewhat arbitrary), it's time to revise to reduce the use of
dependent clauses, noun strings, lists in sentences, etc. (Of course,
there was that API manual where I felt successful in reducing the
reading level to 12th grade.)
Those of us who work with illustrators know that they can tell us
whether our instructions are clear. They are picture people, not word
people, and usually do not have the *abnormal* affinity for words that
most writers do. Seeing our talent for words as unusual can help us
develop a better understanding of others' different ways of knowing
and understanding. That's got to make us better communicators.
Time to get off my soapbox.
Regards, Virginia
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: What's important
Author: Patgmason <patgmason -at- AOL -dot- COM> at Internet
Date: 6/27/97 9:26 AM
A boss much experienced in dealing with businessmen and politicians once
told me that if a concept cannot be jotted down in one sentence on a 3x5
card, most people will not understand it. Ever. He was right.
Highly educated people too often assume most people 1)read and 2)grasp
their long explanations of things. This is just not true. Even among
other highly educated people.
People need brief, active, interesting statements. Anything else is fine
print specs that only another troubleshooting engineer will ever dig
through.
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