 |
||||
 |
|
|
|
Suggest a Site for Review Our Top 10 Sites THE BUSINESS Best Job Sites Sell Your Articles Pay Scales Tax Strategies Legal Resources THE ART Style Guides Web Writing Skills Reference Sites NETWORKING E-mail skills Queries and Resumes Conferences Writer/Editor Orgs Specific Genres E-Sportswriting GADGETS PDAs Cell Phones Wireless Modems Fast Internet Access Keyboards Monitors Office Chairs Digital Cameras Truly Unique and Useful Devices SOFTWARE Word Processing Graphics Some Desktop Clutter-Busters Voice-Activated Programs Meet our Writers Back To Home Page |
OuterNotes: Web Writing and Content Skills
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,19842,00.html Industry Standard online columnist Jimmy Guterman opines that Web writing just doesn't gratify the reader. He describes it as ambiguous, buzzword-ridden, and at times, just ghastly. He cites the lack of an authoritative Web-writing resource and business writing's inability to adapt to the online medium, and he promises lessons from his own five years of Web writing for news and opinion sites, portal sites, communities and brochureware sites. Six weeks after this article was published, the follow-up has yet to materialize on the site (it's a monthly column), but you may want to check back and see if he eventually delivers the promised solutions. --Karin Call ...And Why It Takes More Than Talent http://www.clickz.com/cgi-bin/gt/article.html?article=2948 Why would a legitimate author want to write for an unsophisticated, online medium such as the Web? Well, maybe it's not such an unremarkable venue after all. According to ClickZ.com columnist Kathy Henning, being a Web writer is actually more difficult than writing in print: the audience can hail from anywhere in the world, each Web page must be self-sustaining (since users frequently enter from areas other than the home page), and most people are in a hurry to get the information they need and move on to a new area. Ms. Henning feels it takes an inherent understanding and affinity for the Web itself, as well as a huge amount of talent, to be successful at writing online. And unlike Guterman, she delivers with specific tactics and practices in her recently published second installment at http://www.clickz.com/cgi-bin/gt/article.html?article=2997; it covers clarity, relevance, brevity, scanability and readability, consistency, freedom from errors, and good integration with a site's overall design. --Karin Call A Harvard Grad Takes a Bat to Jargon http://www.clearwriting.net Harvard Law graduate Ken Bresler's experience with legal writing -- at his first job, he was criticized for writing too clearly -- spawned this site dedicated to eradicating excessive jargon. His crystal-clear critiques of sample legal documents, Alexander Cartwright's Rules of Baseball and product labels -- and a split-screen "Sample" section that highlight examples of good and bad writing -- are an invaluable aid to Web writers seeking to communicate but not obfuscate. --Jennis S. Bev Online-to-Print Retreat Spawns a 'New Breed' http://www.pressaccess.com/thescoop/0101_dotcom.htm Pressaccess.com media analyst Bobby Finnegan interviewed three veteran journalists who recently jumped from print to online media -- and then back again -- to support his contention that the rush back to traditional media has created "a new breed of media professionals" with first-hand experience of the work process in both types of media organizations. "While the dot-com shakeout continues, online journalists are likely to migrate back to print publications, bringing with them the additional insights gained from their online experiences," he notes. "Having worked online, they've learned the need for timely and embargoed news, and experienced the challenge of distinguishing their news outlet from a sea of competing organizations. Having worked in print, they've come to appreciate the lead times that allow them to cultivate story ideas and sources as well as the satisfaction that comes from seeing and touching their work in print," he concludes. --Mariateresa Thiery The Jargon File Defines Tech Terms That Matter... http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/index.html Eric Raymond is one of the most striking personalities in the world of computers. He's a hacker of the old school -- meaning someone who likes to make the machines do cool, constructive things -- and a tireless, controversial supporter of open source software. Raymond also edits The Jargon File, a classic lexicon of hacker phraseology. With entries that date back to 1975 (before some high-tech whiz kids were born), it presents the A to Z of "slang, jargon and techspeak." Words like kluge, cruft, and foo might not appear in Webster's, but here, and that makes The Jargon File both a handy reference guide and an important historical document. --Christopher L. Stamper ...While The Jargonator Cuts Out Those That Don't http://www.jargonfreeweb.com PR mavens The Gable Group have created a stellar site on why and how to avoid jargon and in press releases in order to communicate effectively. Although they allow that some jargon is inevitable because it adds real meaning to industry information, they feel empty buzzwords and LAQs ("lame-ass quotes") can clutter a piece and render it meaningless. You can copy and paste your writings into The Jargonator and get a rating on a scale of 1 to 6, with 1 being "an excellent job of differentiating yourself from the same tired words" and 6 being "a piece of garbage to line the bottom of your bird cage." Don't miss the Jargon Trash List for words to avoid (e.g., solutions, B2B, seamless, robust and mission critical) and the chance to enter the "Say No To Jargon" contest where your worst jargon-filled news releases could win $50.00 and a T-shirt. --Karin Call CNET's Tech Glossary: Clear but a Tad Dated http://www.cnet.com/Resources/Info/Glossary/ "Do all your Net-savvy friends laugh at you every time you open your mouth?" emerging high-tech trade giant CNET asks users of its online glossary, which dwells deep inside their megasite. From the modem command AA to the upload protocol Zmodem, it collects important terms that apply to modern technology. The editors do a good job explaining arcane terms (e.g., parity bit, partition and passive matrix) in lay language, but the lack of entries like PDA, DVD-ROM and Webcast shows that the site could use an update. --Christopher L. Stamper Contentious: A Quantity of Qualities for Online Editors http://www.contentious.com/archive-main.html "Someone should be focusing on content issues specific to online media," notes Contentious.com site owner Amy Gahran, whose articles reveal an uncommon insight into the obstacles faced by online professionals -- and ways to overcome them. Ms. Gahran, who co-produces the highly acclaimed Content-Exchange.com site, lists the following requisite qualities for online editors: curiosity, bravery, self-direction, discipline, organization, emotional strength, humility, cooperation, versatility, flexibility, savvy, ethics, an outgoing personality, patience and persistence and a sense of fun (being contentious, we see, is not one of them). But while Boy and Girl Scouts can claim a similar skillset, the hyperlinked real-world examples she gives for each attribute merits a badge of honor. --Mariateresa Thiery OuterNotes is produced using the OuterForce Platform, which allows publishers to easily recruit and manage remote and freelance content creation and export it into their publishing platform of choice. For more information, see http://www.outerforce.com. Copyright 2000 by OuterNotes and Trotta Media, Inc. All rights reserved. OuterNotes is a trademark of OuterForce Systems, Inc.Return to OuterNotes Home |