DISQUS

Brain Traffic Blog: Web Writing for Dummies, Smarties, Oldies, and Newbies

  • Thomas Hallett · 8 months ago
    Another quick one: Keep bullet points short - if your bullet points are more than a couple lines or sentences long consider breaking up with subheadings instead...
  • shannon · 8 months ago
    Thank you! I've been passing this on to my coworkers for years, but the validation adds credibility.
  • shannon · 8 months ago
    AND the search engines love this stuff, too.
  • Margot Bloomstein · 8 months ago
    Love this. I've started many an editorial style guide with this bit: "Thoreau instructed 'simplify, simplify.' You can do him one better." Here's to snappy writing that gets to the point and knows when to stop!
  • Nell Kauls · 8 months ago
    Great list. I am looking forward to the death of "innovative corporate-speak." I think we are on our way!
  • Jamie Maldonado · 8 months ago
    Digestible content is something I focused on strongly as a copy editor and designer at newspapers, and it's been a great skill to have outside of that industry. Excellent tips!
  • Mark Jackson · 8 months ago
    In your opinion, does the active personalised style (speak to the audience as ‘you’) apply when the subject is technical?
  • Elizabeth Saloka · 8 months ago
    Hi Mark,
    Great question. I'd say addressing users as 'you' is always appropriate, unless:
    A) It comes off as awkward, patronizing, or judgmental to the user.
    B) You're not actually speaking to the intended user.
    Remember, whenever you face a content quandary, you can ask this question: What would I want if I were the user?
    Hope this helps!
  • Rachel · 7 months ago
    This is great. One of the few articles I've seen that practices what it preaches.