Re: Principles for procedure writing

Subject: Re: Principles for procedure writing
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 17:36:05 -0700


bethany_rusbasan -at- leco -dot- com wrote:

My company has written some special manuals for big customers, written to a fourth grade reading level. And, our customer still wasn't sure that their people would be able to read it.

I agree a pretty sad state of affairs.

As much as list-members value literacy, other people have different priorities. I happen to think that not having a high level of literacy robs your life of considerable complexity and pleasure, but I know programmers who think me imbecelic because my programming skills are (excuse the pun) extremely Basic. From their viewpoint, they're right.

Don't forget, too, that a suitable reading level depends vary much on circumstance. I am hyper-literate, but I would hate to read emergency instructions at the top of my reading level if I only had 30 seconds to absorb them before the plane I was in crashed. I'd want them as simple as possible. Ditto when I'm trying to absorb something when I'm tired, or when I want everything as convenient as possible.

I don't consider writing for a reading level below mine "dumbing down" i the slightest. To the contrary, I consider it one of the most interesting challenges I can face as a writer. When I was Contributing Editor at Maximum Linux, I knew that my audience consisted largely of twenty-somethings with not especially good literacy skills, and I throughly enjoyed trying to write Linux configuration articles that they would understand.


--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

"There'll be tears in the eyes of the weak,
And in the eyes of the most strong-hearted,
Tears in the eyes of the miners and wives
When these coal town days are through."
-Jez Lowe, "These Coal Town Days"



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