Web Writing That Works!

           A Project of
           The Communication Circle

Guidelines Rants Patterns Poems Services Classes Press Blog Resources About Us Site Map

HomeGuidelines > 1. Trim that Text! > 1h. Beware of cutting so far that you make the text ambiguous. > Challenges     

 

Background

Diagram

Examples

Audience Fit

Challenges

Bonus! Hot Text chapter (110K, PDF, 2 minutes at 56K)

Challenges

Clarify

(a)  As core technology activities mature, they will be terminated, as one might expect, following carefully designed implementation schedules, by transfer to the applied projects area.

Answer

(b)  When the objects’ message handlers learn parameters, options, or arguments don’t match criteria, personnel receiving message turndowns revise or cancel original messages.

Answer

(c)  The mathematicians assumed values for the variables (specifically those for dollar amounts, unit prices, totals, and running totals) should not be specified, or had not been defined.

Answer

(d)  The engineers regularly maintained the software, which had been written years before using COBOL, was such spaghetti that no one could safely repair it.

Answer

Other ways to trim that text

1a. Cut any paper-based text by 50%.

1b. Use short words.

1c. Make some sentences short.

1d. Make most paragraphs short.

1e. Delete marketing fluff.

1f. Move vital but tangential or supplemental material.

1g. Convert repeating categories of information into tables.

Resources on brevity

Taking a Position on Brevity

Heuristic Online Text (HOT) Evaluation for Brevity

Poster

 

Home | Guidelines | Rants | Patterns | Poems | Services | Classes | Press | Blog |
Resources | About Us | Site Map

Web Writing that Works!
http://www.WebWritingThatWorks.com
 © 1998-2004 Jonathan and Lisa Price
The Communication Circle
Discuss at HotText@yahoogroups.com
Email us directly at ThePrices@ThePrices.com
Order Hot Text (the book) from Amazon