1 Article

Good article. It was a bit on the common sense side, but then again ……

Javascript error when I loaded the page:
Line: 48
Char: 57
Error: Unterminated String Constant
Code: 0
URL: http://www.alistapart.com/stories/writeliving/

posted at 09:49 am on August 15, 2002 by D K

2 Back to the Future

What is today? “16 August 2002—Issue No. 149”

posted at 10:42 am on August 15, 2002 by Marshall Roch

3 re: Back to the Future

Over the summer, ALA fell behind in its weekly production schedule due to a buttload of other projects. We compensated last week by publishing a day ahead of schedule, and we did the same thing this week. Moreover, it’s 16 August in Australia, and that’s good enough for us. We get a lot of Australian readers, and one of our co-producers is Sydney-based.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, how about this week’s article?

posted at 11:03 am on August 15, 2002 by apartness

4 well said

I think this article covers well the kinds of things most people who have spent any time with the “living web” feel but might have trouble articulating. These are good guidelines for effective, interesting, regularly updated content that will reach as wide a range as possible. On the other hand, I can’t bring myself to knock the ‘blogs and diaries and so forth that violate verious of these guidelines – the ones in which nobody but the author’s closest friends will be interested, for instance – because this is the web, and everyone has a right to do his or her own thing. So I guess the article covers not necessarily The Right Way To Make Good Content, but rather One Way To Make Better Content That More People Will Enjoy.
deep breaths
I particularly liked “If you are not sure you are right, ask yourself why you are writing” and “Decide now what you will do, before it happens” as guidelines.

posted at 12:06 pm on August 15, 2002 by joe

5 evangelists of common sense, unite!

I really do think that in all but the rarest of cases, this is what separates good content from drivel:

“Don’t tell us what happened: tell us why it matters.”

But I have a feeling that to really reach the people who need to hear this, I will have to pamphletize this article and hand it out hare krishna style (maybe near the blank CD shelf at the drug store?).

posted at 02:55 pm on August 15, 2002 by sarah

6 Nicely stated

Nicely stated. A few helpful reminders for the hardcore blogger and some plain common sense for the newbie.

posted at 04:23 pm on August 15, 2002 by Pete

7 a good primer

A very nice article…I think this it does a good job of really driving home the “Serve th Truth” point.

posted at 06:35 pm on August 15, 2002 by Jeremy

8 slick plug

Good article. Omit unnecessary words. Good advice. I recommend George Orwell’s unfortunately titled article, “Politics and the English Language”, in which Orwell famously declares that “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.”

Slick plug for tinderbox too.

posted at 09:53 pm on August 15, 2002 by Steven Garrity

9 inspiring

Not only was this article a well written reminder, it was also an inspiration. I wrote a journal for three years that the “wrong” person once read. The journal was closed and now I hesitate to bring my most personal thoughts to my site. Maybe I’ll start bringing them again..

posted at 09:55 pm on August 15, 2002 by mats

10 Omit needless words

Let’s work on one of the 10 guidelines:

3. Write tight
Omit unnecessary words.
[Or as Strunk & White put it, “Omit needless words.”]

Choose a visual design that fits your voice. Unless the design is the point of your site, select colors and visual elements that support without dominating. [These two sentences say the same thing. Try “Unless visual design drives your site, choose a design to frame your writing and support your voice.”]

Resist the temptation to add features, for it is often best to use only those few technical and design elements that support your mission. Don’t rush to replace a good design: you will grow bored with it long before your readers do. [“Add only enough features to support the site, no more. Once you settle on a good design, leave it alone.”]

Read your work. Revise it. Don’t worry about being correct, …
[Do you mean grammatically correct? Factually correct? Why not worry about correctness? Poor spelling and grammar will only distract readers and reflect poorly on the writer. Factual errors call the writer’s veracity into question. Worry about correctness—the web doesn’t need more bad, incorrect writing.]

… but take a moment now and then to think about the craft.
[Better yet, read a lot. Read a book by an author you don’t know—pick something from the Booker or Pulitzer prize lists. Read one of those classics you bought Cliff’s Notes for in school. Read books about writing.]

Can you choose a better word — one that is clearer, richer, more precise?
[Try cutting down on the forms of “to be,” like “is,” “are,” “was.” Active writing with real verbs always reads better. “Can you choose a clearer, richer, more precise word?”]

Can you do without a word entirely? [Yes—the word “entirely” adds nothing to the preceding sentence.]

Omit unnecessary words. [And omit cliches.]

posted at 10:02 pm on August 15, 2002 by Greg Jorgensen