Using the Queen’s (plain) English to enhance your user experience

Maybe Jeremy Zawodny, Yahoo’s official troublemaker, was trying to tell me something. The other day he sent me a link to a web site called “How to write in plain English.” (Actually he sent it to a bunch of us Yahoo! blogsters, but still…)

Anyway, I followed the link and was impressed enough with “How to write in plain English” to share it with you. The site was created by a British organization called the Campaign for Plain English, “an independent organization fighting for crystal-clear language and against jargon, gobbledygook and other confusing language.” The group defines plain English as “something that the intended audience can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it. Plain English takes into account design and layout as well as language.”

Plain English, says the Campaign:

• Is faster to write
• Is faster to read
• Gets your message across more often, more easily and in a friendlier way

Smart web publishers know well the importance of getting their messages across quickly. If you can’t get your users to act fast, they’ll be gone in a heartbeat. You move them or you lose them.
 

The rules laid out on “How to write in plain English” seem pretty basic—use short sentences and active verbs, address the reader as “you,” etc. But they’re rules we often forget, especially when trying to be creative. It’s always good to have a “refresher course” bookmarked which you can refer to whenever in doubt.

Look for Jeremy’s essay on good blogging tactics here in a couple weeks.

—Michael Mattis, Blog Editor