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.
Subject:Re: Reassuring language From:"McDonald, Nancy (The Registry)" <McDonalN -at- LCI -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 22 Jun 1998 16:41:37 -0400
One time a long long time ago, I must have stuck in some adjectives
or adverbs like this into my documentation, and my reviewer (project manager
for database system) told me never to plug in marketing language... that's
what those adverbs are: marketing terms! It's supposed to (!) work in
advertising, but that's not the job of a user-guide writer. We work best
with active verbs. '-)
HTH:
Nancy McDonald
Technical Writer, Consulting Services Manager
The Renaissance Worldwide, Inc. (www.rens.com)
Columbus, OH, US
> >
> > On Monday, June 22, 1998 2:02 PM, John David Hickey
> > [SMTP:jdavid -at- farabi -dot- com] wrote:
> >
> > > I'm updating a user's guide and online help that another
> > writer created.
> > > This other writer peppered his procedures with reassuring words like
> > > "simply" and "easily" ("Simply click here" or "You can
> > easily do this").
> > I
> > > find these words are extraneous and do nothing to reassure
> > the reader. If
> > > anything, they would make me nervous ("Now don't worry Mr.
> > Hickey. This
> > > simple procedure won't hurt a bit... <yank>").
> > >
> > > My question is, do these reassuring words help the user at
> > all or they
> > just
> > > fluff?
>
> ~
>
