[Sigia-l] Re: Writing for the Web

[Richard Law]

Hi John,

I'm not sure where it happened in the replies to my original query, but my
name is Richard, not John. ;.)

We have many different style guides at Cisco, but none are very focused on
the writing for the web. So at this point we're consolidating the style
guides and integrating best practices for writing for the web for all
documentation and communications.

You're right that writing is often thought of at the end (if at all) of the
process. We have many talented writers and editors on staff, and are trying
to pull all these resources together for a more cohesive delivery that
supports business objectives, user goals, and the Cisco brand.

Thanks for your comments and references. I'll add them to our list for
review! 

Cheers!

Richard


.....................................................

Richard Law / name
Information Architect / role
Cisco.com User Experience / group
rlaw at cisco.com / email
SJ-14/3 B3-9 / workspace
408 853 8407 / IP phone


On 10/27/03 7:13 AM, "John R. Howe" <jrhowe at cwatercom.com> wrote:

> John,
> 
> By now you're probably feeling bombarded with links... so here are
> the 2 best *books* on Web writing, in my appropriately modest opinion.
> 
> "Hot Text: Web Writing That Works." Jonathan and Lisa Price. New Riders, 2002
> "Net words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy." Nick Usborne. McGraw-Hill,
> 2002.
> 
> I noticed a link to N. Usborne's  "ClickZ" archives in Laura's
> encyclopedic www.d.umn.edu/goto/webdesign/ list. See also: my "Web
> Writing Checklist" at http://www.cwatercom.com/html/cw_checklist.html
> with many items borrowed from the above 2 books.
> 
> Finally - if you haven't already, save yourself and your writers
> *much* time (= money) and prevent debilitating religious wars over
> grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. with these three style guides:
> "The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law" (Perseus
> Press); "Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications"
> (Microsoft Press) and "The Chicago Manual of Style" (University of
> Chicago Press).
> 
> Add to that list, of course,  whatever  *internal* editorial style
> guides Cisco already has.   I'd be interested to know if it does, and
> if so, what stage of development they're in.  In most of my Web
> writing contracts over the past seven years I've had to introduce and
> champion editorial style guides (both external and internal), usually
> because "content" was an afterthought for Web teams focused
> exclusively on technology, graphic design and structural/visual (IA,
> UI) "user experience."  It never ceases to amaze and inspire me that
> even though users spend most of their time *reading* (everything from
> link labels and headlines to news stories and FAQs), use of *words*
> (writing, reading) is almost always missing from discussions of "user
> experience."
> 
> - John
>