@jackson27tyler
Profile
Registered: 1 year, 10 months ago
We are all Tech Writers Now: Three Steps to Clear Writing for the net Take some tips from technical writing which will make your ideas clear and persuasive in the brand new reading environment of the web. Print media puts the reader in the passenger's seat. Imagine if you do not want a character to die? What if you don't just like the direction the story has taken? Traditional reading is linear--you start at chapter one and you also visit the end, with no detours in between. Instruction manuals have always been different. Who reads instruction manuals from starting to end? Instead you dip into it, try something, and if that doesn't seem to work, flip a few pages backward or forward and try again. Now the internet has turned into a huge manual where in fact the reader can move around at will--technology has stolen authorial control. You will need to expect your readers to jump around. To be write for us technology , anything you write for the web has to follow the same three rules that technical writers use: Write in Chunks Readers choose. Recognize that your audience is not expecting a story--they have specific goals. Points must be self-contained and clearly marked to help them find what they're looking for and move ahead. Respect your reader's time--don't make sure they are eat the sundae when all they want is the cherry. Follow a Structure You can structure your articles by category, rank, location--but there should be a structure. By organizing your information you are giving your reader an instrument that lets them find what they're looking for and skip what they don't really need. If you cannot look for a structure that works, you must define your points more clearly. Connect it Together You can't force your reader to follow the path you've set for them, but you can give them access to information that supports your message. Avoid being afraid to link, both to resources outside your document also to pages in it. Your role is to help them achieve their goals; point them towards resources that help them do this. Like technical writing, the web is about helping people find information. Adopt some of the principals of technical writing in your own work to make it get results.
Website: https://techvig.net/write-for-us-technology/
Forums
Topics Started: 0
Replies Created: 0
Forum Role: Participant
