Re: Phrasing recommendations

Subject: Re: Phrasing recommendations
From: Karen Field <KarenF -at- TRITECH -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 11:21:14 -0700

We dealt with this a lot when I was at Intuit, and here's what we came up
with: Use the imperative and an objective point of view. For example, "For
best results, use the default..." The imperative is stronger than any "we
recommend..." or "It is recommended..." statements. Also, when you use the
imperative tone, you leave fewer unanswered questions for the user, such as,
"It is recommended by who? Why is it recommended?" Generally, all users want
the "best results." And you can qualify circumstances in which they wouldn't
choose the default in a note or subsection.

Hope this is helpful.

Karen Field
Technical Writer, Editor, and Indexer


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