Writing Copy
Middle Aged, Cranky, and Loving Web Usability
photo credit: dyanna
I love the work of usability expert Jakob Nielson. I really do.
His latest UseIt Alerts are must-reads.
One alert takes a cranky old man’s slap at bad web design. Bad content, bad navigation, big bad badness.
Another discusses middle-aged folks and our declining web performance.
Both contain awesome analyses. Couldn’t agree more.
But keep two things in mind:
1. Criticizing is always easier […]
MACs Never Crash: Living in Creative Denial
If I lived in denial - I would have to admit my MAC never crashes. Further, my MAC makes me more productive and creative. And above all else, I’m a cooler person for merely owning a MAC.
Here are three short stories about denial and design. To me, they indicate a kind of brainwashing caused by hypnotic conversation-marketing hysteria.
I could […]
Beware of Self Congratulatory Web Copy
Imagine a well-dressed, sophisticated professional woman enjoying a glass of fine wine in her favorite four-star restaurant.
A nice-looking, well-groomed young man approaches her and says,
Hello. I’m a hot stud.
Now, what chance do you reckon this young man has with successfully continuing the conversation?
I ask you this because when I see companies and people with self-congratulatory names, […]
The Truth About Twitter: Everybody Lies
In his internet marketing blog, Andy Beard writes a post titled Twitter is unethical for business use. His main beef?
It seems that many businesses use Twitter for reasons other than its stated purpose of answering the question,
“What are you doing?”
The Beard Argument. Using Twitter for anything other than literal truth might be ethical — […]
Beware the English Major! The Top 4 Signs of Ineffective Web Copy
You may know English. But can you write convincingly — for the web?
Beware the English Major! I have worked with English majors who cannot seem to write web copy that anyone wants to read! One English major I worked with focused obsessively on using big words to ”sound smart”. Instead of bending the rules of grammar and punctuation to […]
