Once you’ve put the problem into words, something startling happens: The solution follows almost instantly. When you start organizing your ideas into sentence and paragraphs, the process seems the free the creative part of tour mind, and it comes up with answers that you’d never get if you just pounded your head against the edge of your desk. Sometimes the answer comes before you’ve finished writing the sentence describing the problem.
Self-critiques don’t just help with problems of style. Your inner editor may also warn to about problems in the organization of your whole site. Maybe you want to list a bunch of excellent links to other sites on your front page; your editor, if you give her a chance, will tell you not to be an idiot: “Put them down in the basement so readers don’t find them until they’ve looked at all your own stuff.”
Print out to Proofread
You simply cannot trust your own proofreading abilities unless you proofread from paper. Not only is computer- screen text hard to read, it’s hard to proofread as well. That’s means real trouble for you as a Web writer: Your text may look subliterate even if only mistyped, but it well be very hard for you to catch your typos if you’re proofreading only on the screen. The longer you try, the less accurate you’ll be because monitor reading will tire you out. Your readers, however, will come to your site fresh and unfamiliar with your text. So they’ll spot those typos every time.
Sections that you haven’t changed much are especially dangerous. On my first Website, I didn’t look at my headline after I’d written it; when I installed the site, the headline feature an embarrassing typo—which I didn’t catch until after I’d invited dozens of colleagues to take a look.
When you print out your site to proofread it, don’t print out your text in 10-point single-spaced text. Make it 14-point and double spaced, use an unfamiliar front, and let it sit overnight before you proofread. That way your text will look unfamiliar. You’ll have to read what’s actually on the paper, not what’s on the inside of your forehead –and errors more likely to leap out at you.
Here’s another useful tip: Read your text out loud. That will also force you to read every word, instead of just skimming. You may find some awkward phrases that looked okay on the screen and on paper, but the sound clumsy or suggest an unintended meaning. Better to catch them now.
Does sound like a lot of hassle for a humble little Web page about your favorite singer on your dog-walking service? Maybe so, but typos, bad grammar, and other mechanical errors can really hurt the impact of tour page. Maybe you can create amazing sound and graphics, but if you can’t spell, your readers will notice—and they won’t like it. This is especially true when you have a business site promoting either your own skills or the virtues of the company that’s hired you to write content for its site. Simple proofreading mistakes instantly make you look bush-league and unprofessional.
Don’t Respect the Text
Maybe it’s an ingrained respect for the written word going back to ancient. Babylon when only the sacred priests were literate. Maybe it just goes back to the days of the manual re-typing the whole page.
Whatever the reason, we revere text too much. It gives us a deadly dangerous readiness to dump print-for-paper onto a Website and think we’ve done our job.
Respect for text is bad enough for print–media writers; on the Web, it’s disastrous. In print, we expect readers to skip right along from point to point. If our text is wordy or complex, we rely on readers to get the point pretty quickly anyway. Maybe we even tell ourselves are so subtle and nuanced that only an elaborate style will convey them adequately.
On the Web, readers need only hit the “back” button to dismiss our illusions. If we want to attract them, hold them, and inspire them to react to what we’ve said, we need to look at our text with a cold, dispassionate eye.
Jakob Nielsen tells us the computer monitor slows down reading speed by up to 25 percent, but we haven’t yet accepted the implication: that everything we adapt from print to Web should be at least 25 percent shorter. Print-media text assumes readers will sit still for a long, interwoven arguments; when Web surfers find such arguments, too often they just surf on to somewhere else. And when that happens we’ve squandered the great advantage the Web gives us a writers: the chance to engage our readers in dialogue.
Some print materials, of course, don’t need adaptation because they’re simply archived on the site. An annual report, a survey, an article once published in a newspaper—these can remain at full length. As pdf (portable document format) files they can even retain their original formatting.
But for Web users who are simply scanning your site, you should try to provide a kind of smorgasbord, with everything available at a glance. To make scanning easer, you need to adapt most print texts by including:
• Self-explanatory titles on you contents pages, so scanners will know what they’re
heading for when they click though.
• Blurbs, in case the tittles really aren’t all that self-explanatory.
• Heading that either form tittles for individual chunks of text, or divide even a single
screenful of text into two or three segments
• “Condensed” text that conveys the key elements as concisely as possible-perhaps
with links to the original-length archived item for those who want every detail
The condensation process demand the most disrespect for print–source text. A useful guideline is to cut such text by not just 25 percent, but 50 percent, just to see if it’s possible If the result can’t stand on its own, then restore some of the original text (or a concise version of it) until the scanner, arriving directly on this chunk, will understand what it’s about.
And not only understand it–respond to it! Maybe you want your readers to respond by jumping to the archived original, or emailing your organization, or buying the product. Whatever the response desired, the text should make it an easy, attractive choice. What’s more, the choice itself should spark a positive response from the Website:
Congratulation! Your first email newsletter is on its way! Let us know what you think of it.
Thank you for your purchase. It should reach you within 48. Meanwhile, your user manual is already in your mail box.
Maybe you feel awkward about disrespecting the text, but what’s really important is that you give utmost respect to the visitors who have honored you with their presence on your site. What ever you can do to make their visit interesting, surprising and successful—including presenting text as clearly and concisely as possible—should make it clear that their needs come first.
Edit for International Readers
When you write for the Web, remember that it really is worldwide. Most readers may be native English speakers, but many are not. Soon a majority of Web users will not be natives English speakers, and even native speakers may have trouble with particular dialects. For example, a “car smash” in Memphis is a “fender bender” in California. When an Australian man has a “mate” it’s his male friend and not his wife.
If we’re going to mate the needs of our worldwide readers, we have to make our language as simple and clear as possible. This isn’t easy. A Brazilian journalist is translating this book, and I stumped him (what is “stumped’’’?) right in the title of Chapter 1, “ Hype and Hypertext.” What, he wanted to know, is “hype”? It wasn’t in his English-Portuguese dictionary. Recently I ask a Chinese penpal for her snailmail address; she sent me her Hotmail address instead… because she thought “snailmail” must mean an email account that opens very slowly.
Does this mean that we have to set our grammar checkers to flag anything that might make a third-grader frown? Do you have to define very word/
No—at least, not usually. The other day I referred a foreign student y\to my collage’s Website for advice about admission and fees. The information for foreign students wasn’t written very simply. After all, if its readers can’t understand routine collage-level English, They’re not yet ready for us.
Similarly, foreign professionals may be very much at ease with the technical English of their profession, even if their colloquial English is awkward. So a technical site need not oversimplify its content.
In some cases, you may even want to emphasize your dialect to remind readers that they’re not in Kansas anymore. A Canadian site can offer an exotic flavour to American visitors if it writer labour to spell British style. It can also use distinctly Canadian terms, like “saltchuck” for “saltwater” and “bluff” for “grove of trees”. If your site’s dialect is likely to baffle too many visitors, a glossary may help.
Many readers will grasp unfamiliar terms just from context, but the context can be blunt or subtle: We went out on the saltchuck, which is what some British Columbians call salt water.” Or: “we went out on the saltchuck, braving choppy waves in our sea kayaks.”
So for technical sites, or “exotic” sites, specialized dialects will be fine. A site designed for general readers, however should probably stick to bare bones Standard English—a vocabulary of widely understood words with very few regional, slangy, or idiomatic expressions.
Am I being a terrible spoilsport who disapproves of having fun with English? I should hope not! As George Orwell said in the last of this rules for clear English: “Break any of these rules sooner than say something out right barbarous”
And don’t forget one priceless advantage you have as a Webwriter—you can encourage and provoke your readers to ask questions about the unusual words and phrases on you site. Your content isn’t just a take-it-or-leave-it box lunch, but a constantly changing buffet of interesting and sometimes mysterious items. If costumers find you eager to explain what’s on offer, they’ll be delighted to learn and experiment—and you’ll learn how much you still have to learn about your own language.
A Webwriter’s Style Guide
Journalists and academic use style guides. So do book and magazines editors. They’re writing for print on paper, in genres that are centuries old. The Web has existed for less than a decade; would a generally accepted Web style guide be a premature straitjacket, or an overdue step toward law and order on a wild frontier.
Well, several Webstyle guides already exist, through they’re more honored in the breach than the observance. Tim Berners-Lee the father of the Web, created such a style guide. So did Gareth Rees (though I believe this guide is now available only as an appendix in this book), and Jutta Degener’s list of “dangerous words” is still controversial.
In the print media, style guides don’t interest rank amateurs or literary geniuses. Amateurs don’t know the rules; geniuses break them. But for professional writers, style guides are as necessary as tape measures and plumb bobs are for carpenters.
With millions of pages up on the Web now, it really helps when Websites imitate one another; as Jakob Nielsen suggested recently. New visitors don’t have to spend time learning the quirks of each particular site, including language quirks.
Many Webstyle guides can therefore be descriptive, telling their readers “This is the way most people say it.” That’s especially true for sites catering to specialized audience with their own dialect or technical shoptalk.
But other style guides should be prescriptive, laying down the law on everything from abbreviations to precise word usages. Newspapers and published use such guides for the sake of consistency, and to save their writers and editors from repeatedly researching every obscure question. I can recommend several for North American Webwriters.
USA:
The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition). University of Chicago Press, 1993.
The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. Norm Goldstein, ed. Perseus Press 1998.
The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications (2nd edition).Microsoft Press, 1998.
Canada:
CP stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, ed. Peter Buckley. Canadian Press,1995.
The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing . Dundurn Press, 1997.
Editing Canadian English, 2nd edition. Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 2000.
Do guides simply impose print standard where they don’t belong? Such guides set limits to expression in a medium that—in theory—requires no such limits at all. Some might even argue force newcomers to adopt the vocabulary and tone of the Web’s privileged early adopters.
I doubt it,. Mavericks are still free to ignore (or attack) “correct” style in their preferred Web genres. But for the vast majority of users, consistent style within Web genres is as critical as consistent navigation.
What follows is a brief guide mixing both descriptive and prescriptive, with a strong emphasis on Web-related expressions and terms that maybe useful for both native English speakers and those for whom English is a foreign language. Some usages are standard whether in print or in Webtext, and ignoring such usage will only distract or confuse your readers. Web jargon and slang can be especially baffling to newcomers, whether English is their native language or not. In other cases, an expression that seems vivid and fresh to you may be baffling or boring to others. In such cases, you should at least think carefully before using them.
Abbreviations
We use short forms of many words and phrases. Some are true abbreviations, while others are acronyms or initialisms. “CA” and “Calif.” Are both abbreviations of “California” “UNESCO” (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) is an acronym; we pronounce it as a word. Sometimes acronyms become acceptable as word themselves, like scuba (self-containing underwater breathing apparatus) and the radar (radio detection and ranging) “FBI” (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and “RCMP”(Royal Canadian Mounted Police) are initialisms; we sound out each letter.
Some abbreviations may be so common that they need no explanation: UN, NATO,TNT. Even then, if you expect numerous international readers unfamiliar with English abbreviations, an explanation somewhere in your text may be helpful. If you fell you must use an abbreviation that your readers may not organized, write out the whole term first before beginning to use the abbreviation:
He joined the National Research Council (NCR) in 1986.
In some cases, the abbreviation may need more than just a spelling-out TNT stands for trinitrotoluene; better to say “TNT, a powerful explosive.” This is especially true for abbreviations from other languages: “Pemex, Mexico’s national oil corporation.”
Acronyms formed only from the initial letters should be all capitals: North Atlantic Treaty Organization =NATO. (However, some British practice allows Nato.) Acronyms formed from initials and other letters in an proper name take capitals and lower case letters: National Biscuit Company=Nabisco. Acronyms formed from phrase don’t take capitals: microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation =maser radio detection and ranging = radar.
Unless a Greek or Latin abbreviation is universally used, prefer the English equivalent. Your reader will understand “that is” and “for “example” much faster than “i.e” and “e.g”
Here are some common abbreviations, together with their complete forms and their meanings. In many cases, when such abbreviations appear in the text intended for a Website, your readers will thank you if you translate them into plain English.
Business abbreviations
Acct or a/c account
AG Allgemeine Gesellschaft, general company
Aktiengesellschaft, joint stock company (German)
ARM adjustable rate mortgage
ASAP as soon as possible
Assn./assoc. association
ATM automatic teller machine
atty. attorney
bal. balance
Bcc. Blind carbon copy
B.l.,b/l, B/L bill of lading
CEO chief executive officer
CFO chief financial officer
CIO chief information officer
c/o care of
CPS certified professional secretary
ctn carton
CY calendar year
cc,CC carbon copy
Cia. Compañia, company (Spanish)
Cie compagnie,company (French)
co, Co company
c.o.d. cash (paid )on delivery
CPA certified public accountant
dba doing business as
dis. Discount
dtd dated
ea each
EEO equal employment opportunity
EOM end of month
Ext.,ext telephone extension (for example, ext.337)
FAX, fax facsimile copy
FOB, f.o.b free on board (delivered without charge to buyer)
Frt freight
Fwd forward
FY fiscal year
FYl for your information
GATS General Agreement on Trade in services
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and trade
GDP gross domestic product
G.M general manager
GmbH Gesellschaft mit beschrankte Haftung
(German for limited liability company)
GNP gross national product
hdlg handling
HR human resources
HRD human resources department
ID identification
inc,Inc. incorporated
inst. Instant (the present month)
IOU I owe you
LCL less than a carload lot
LLC limited liability company
Ltd Limited (stockholders’ liability limited to size of their investment)
Ltee Limitee (French for limited liability)
max maximum
mdse. merchandise
mfr manufacturer
min minimum
MIS management information system
misc. miscellaneous
mo. month
NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement
pd. paid
PLC, plc public limited company ( British equivalent of US corporation )
Pty proprietary
qty. quantity
R&D research and development
RE, Re, re regarding, concerning
recd., rec’d received
rept. Report or receipt
RSVP please reply
S.A sociedad anonima societ anonyme (Spanish & French for anonymous society, like limited liability)
SOP standard operating procedure
Spa, SpA Societa per Azione (Italian for corporation)
Srl Societa a responsabilita limitata(Italian or for limited
responsibility, like limited liability)
treas. treasurer
VP vice-president
whsle. wholesale
Business Symbols
(used in correspondence and tables)
@ (for example 6 copies @ $ 25.95 aech)
.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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