Technical Writing Must be CLEAR
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Technical writing has to be clear, linear, and logical. Technique: Write in simple sentences that anybody can understand Avoid compound sentences with multiple clauses. Here is the most basic sentence structure in English: SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT If a sentence does not have this structure, try to rearrange the components…
Read MoreWhat’s "Content Strategy"? What Does a Content Strategist Do?
(Excerpts) Content strategy is a relatively new profession, and a big profession. Within it are numerous fields of practice. To use an analogy, talking about content strategy is a like talking about doctors. Doctors range from neurologists to podiatrists, and all body parts in between, but they all started with the basics of anatomy, whether …
Read MoreTechnical Writing Must be CORRECT
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Technical writing needs to be correct, before anything else. This is the MOST IMPORTANT sine qua non condition of all technical writing. If a technical document is incorrect, it’s value is zero, nil, zilch. The rest doesn’t matter. Incorrect technical writing creates confusion, misinformation, and even dangerous mistakes and disasters. Technique…
Read MoreInformation Design — NPR's "Obama Tracker" vs. a Plain Table
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Sometimes information design takes off in directions mostly because we have the tools; mostly because “yes, we can!” However, whether such a design is an improvement over the good’old plain table is a topic open to discussion. Here is one such design illustrating President Obama’s most important policy initiatives since the…
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