The other day, I got to thinking about tasks and procedures. We had just remodeled our kitchen, and I was flipping through the user manual for our new dishwasher, looking for a section that walked me through the process of washing dishes from start to finish. But the user manual in my hands offered no such trajectory.
If you’re rootin’ around for examples of bad how-to writing, look no further than your kitchen. Chances are any cookbook recipe for roast chicken, braised pork, or berry cobbler bursts with bundled steps and bungled assumptions.
I’ve worked in technical communication for almost two decades. I’ve written user guides, online help, newsletters, tutorials, reference guides, API specifications, and user interface text. I’ve written the documentation for tax software, task-management software, science-lab hardware, and system-to-system technology used by the mortgage industry. I’ve even written humor columns and articles about technical communication.
Recently I wrote an article for a charity newsletter about the charity’s annual banquet. I opened with this paragraph: We’d had a lovely evening. As I sat at our table at the banquet last month, checkbook open, pen poised to Read more
Ah, the humble adverb. Writers use adverbs to emphasize a point, deepen a sentiment, refine an action. The problem is, adverbs do just the opposite. Consider this sentence. “I am truly sorry.” The adverb “truly” qualifies “sorry.” The listener’s obvious Read more
The one thing every tech writer hears early in a career is, “Avoid jargon in your writing.” Sage advice. But what is “jargon” really? I did some research. The best definition that I’ve found comes from the Writing Center at Read more
My husband is what I call an “accidental saver.” Every evening, he empties his pockets of coins and dumps them into a plastic dish on his desk. Over months, the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters pile up and spill out Read more
Rolling through Roswell, NM, over Thanksgiving, I saw this ad for a local bank on a billboard: Lending Should Be Easy. We Make Sure It Is. The message contains a fundamental flaw. Can you see it? The message, which is Read more
Rolling through Roswell, NM, over Thanksgiving, I saw this ad for a local bank on a billboard: Lending Should Be Easy. We Make Sure It Is. The message contains a fundamental flaw. Can you see it? The message, which is Read more
Today is the second post from our newest regular guest blogger, Karen Field Carroll. Karen sent us a post two months ago on how technical communicators can (and should) support the Plain Regulations Act, and we asked her if she Read more