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Subject:Re: Contractions & Style From:Laurel Nelson <Laurel_Y_Nelson -at- NOTES -dot- SEAGATE -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 22 Jan 1999 15:06:52 -0600
Leonard Porrello wrote:
On what do you base your assertion that contractions are harder to read
on-line? And, if this is true, how do on-line font size, resolution, and
refresh rate effect play in? Leonard Porrello
______________________________
Leonard: I got this advice from William Horton's book about writing online
documentation (second edition). I don't have the book here at work and
can't remember the exact title. I do have the notes I took when reading the
book and this is what Horton advocated for using punctuation in online
documentation. At least this is what I have in my notes--his book probably
has more information.
"The most easily misread online marks are punctuation marks. Do not use
contractions. They are too hard for users to read online. If you write *do
not,* make the *not* bold. Avoid using colons and semicolons within
sentences. However, use colons at the end of a sentence when introducing a
bulleted list."
I'm sure Horton wrote information about font size, etc., but I didn't take
any notes on that so I can't answer your other question.
