The Art of Technical Writing 2.0

Two posts in one day is a first for me. At least on this blog

Was reading this post on the Men With Pens blog and it made me think. Do read that, it is a nice post.

For the past few days I have been observing the variety of styles in which emails are written. Here are a few:

Subject = Email

This is not bad at all but one must append “<eom>” at the end of the message. It’s not a good idea to put a link in the subject though, for the simple reason it may not be clickable in some Emailing services.

No Salutation

I actually like the absence of salutation. though it could come of as rude. I might not do it unto others but don’t mind it done to me. For office communication ‘Dear XYZ’ is out, one must just reserve it for their dear ones. A ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ is what I use usually, but I will gladly do away with it, if we all do. It isn’t reeally required. Don’t you think so?

Endgame

This is treacherous and it looks really silly, when person has signed name and has a signature below with the name again. And a good way to sign off is, ‘Best’, ‘Regards’, ‘Thanks’ (but there should not be more than one thanks in one email. Again we can do without it. But this a personal touch, and sometimes in a dry email, this is all there is.

Body

I came across this site suggested in one of the comments on men with pens blog - five.sentenc.es - and I like the idea of keeping the email size, 2-5 sentences. Though don’t make the sentences long and winding like a bad school boy. Once in a while when you have more to tell it can’t be avoided.

Multicolored In-line Comments

Have you come across such mails? They are the most fun. And are close to being an online catfight. It’s best avoided as it shows aggression. It can be met with only two reactions, the calm will laugh at you and the angry will write back with equal fervor (much to the amusement of the calm, who could be the third person on mail). If you have to answer things, I would suggest make bullets and keep the message in the thread.

Gmail Threads

Gmail is worth being purely for this feature.  It can be used as a social messenger (alongwith the Reply All capability). Though this is not recommended in official correspondence, only amongst friends who have loads of time.

Reply All

This is scary. I am never sure when to reply and when to reply all. Sometimes it’s not a difficult decision, when pure information is being distributed. But when you are distributing what you “think”, be sure you are not offending anyone.

And finally, don’t use these tips for love emailing. Remember your target audience here too.

Am a couple of days late on blogging about this - House passes bill requiring plain language in federal documents.

I love plain language. I am a writer first and then a technical writer. And I still love reading Wodehouse. Have attempted reading Joyce. Love what Ghalib does to Urdu. And occasionally, mischieviously indulge in writing cryptic prose or poetry with words obviously borrowed from Wordweb and forgotten as soon as they are used.

And, I think keeping it simple, stupid! (KISS) Is far more difficult.

But the act will make life simple for my fellowfolks in US. I wonder if we can get such a law to be passed in India. Whenever I read official papers, my mind feels like it is in a virtual giant wheel. A few years back, I needed to make a lease agreement. I downloaded one from the net, after reading it, I almost decided to not give my house out on lease. Then courageously, I took up the challenge and rewrote the entire document in simple English. My mom scared me by saying, they may not accept it. Thankfully no one noticed that they could understand what was written.

Here’s a little bit about Plain language and here’s the Plain Language Act.

Ok, now all of you say - Hail Plain Language - this is a much better dictator.