TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Thanks for the solution. You're right about segregating the content. That
makes my life simple, to think of it that way.
You also said:
| Now here comes the tricky part: If you publish the release on your own
| site, you are going to leave it in third person. Essentially, you're
| saying, "Here is a release we sent out, and it has crossed the wire, so
| now we can publish it (lterally, make it available to the public)
| ourselves."
Never thought of it like that. I never had a *true* explanation for why the
"examplesoft does all this" sentences appeared unfriendly. So now I know.
<grin>
| Suchitra,
|
| Here is a way to get your head around the issue: Different rhetorical
| contexts require different types of diction.
|
| When you or the marketing team are writing a news release, even though
| the letterhead clearly states that the writing was done by someone at
| ExampleSoft, you use third person throughout and mention the company
| name as often as possible. The intent is that the recipient will publish
| the release as if it were an impartial report written by a reporter
| about your company.
|
| Now here comes the tricky part: If you publish the release on your own
| site, you are going to leave it in third person. Essentially, you're
| saying, "Here is a release we sent out, and it has crossed the wire, so
| now we can publish it (lterally, make it available to the public)
| ourselves."
|
| So the part of your Web site that consists of published releases will
| continue to be in third person. The rest of your site, though, is more
| akin to a brochure. Therefore, the question is, what person would you
| use when writing a brochure about your company? (I don't know the answer
| to that one. I'd certainly be pushing for first person, but in many
| companies that would be impermissible.) I like your "'We are
| ExampleSoft, an innovative whatever.' or 'At ExampleSoft, we do great
| things'" approach, by the way.
|
| So long as the brochure-type parts of your site are internally
| consistent, they do not have to be consistent with the news release-type
| parts of your site.
|
| Good luck,
|
| Dick
| ------------------------------------------------------------
| Suchitra Kumar wrote:
| >
| > Hi,
| > I write content for our corporate website. I am a little confused as to
| > whether I should use "we" or the company name while writing.
| >
| > Normally, the management/ marketing team sends across some data or
material
| > for the website and also point out what they want highlighted. I then
| > proceed to actually "write" the content.
| >
| > ALL their stuff has "ExampleSoft is an innovative software company.
| > ExampleSoft offers these services",etc.
| > My tendency is to rewrite it as "We are an innovative software company.
We
| > offer these services".
| >
| > However, they pointed out that the company name was not appearing in the
| > text. So I changed it to start with an introduction "ExampleSoft is an
| > innovative whatever." I put that in separate formatting as an
introduction.
| > Then the following text is all "We do this. Our solutions are this"
| >
| > Then they came back to me to say that the usage should be consistent
| > throughout, no third person confusion. I thought the argument was valid.
So
| > my final version was to use the introduction as "We are ExampleSoft, an
| > innovative whatever." or "At ExampleSoft, we do great things". That made
| > things simple.
| >
| > But I've seen some websites use a combination of company name and we. It
| > "sounds" normal when I read it, but that could just be my ignorance. Any
| > thoughts??
| >
|
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
Sponsored by Cub Lea, specialist in low-cost outsourced development
and documentation. Overload and time-sensitive jobs at exceptional
rates. Unique free gifts for all visitors to http://www.cublea.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
