by Sue Horner | Feb 7, 2013 | Most popular posts, The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“Write for impatient users.” If you take nothing else away from the latest study done by web usability expert Jakob Nielsen, that would be it. While Nielsen was specifically looking at how teens navigate online, you could make the case that everyone is...
by Sue Horner | Aug 9, 2012 | Most popular posts, The Red Jacket Diaries blog
It can be easy to just go along with formal, wordy and awkward wording, especially if your Legal team has a chance to review articles before you publish them. (Sorry, lawyers, but you know you aren’t comfortable with informal!) But please don’t. I’ve...
by Sue Horner | Jun 12, 2012 | Most popular posts, The Red Jacket Diaries blog
There used to be a service that provided “canned” content to be used as filler for employee newsletters. I never understood why. A newsletter is precious real estate. Even an e-newsletter only has so much space available before the reader gets distracted...
by Sue Horner | May 2, 2012 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Working on a client’s employee newsletter has kept my nose to the grindstone for a bit (why hello blog! should I re-introduce myself?). And it also reminded me that the corporate world has much to do to keep employees reading their newsletters. Despite company...
by Sue Horner | Mar 22, 2012 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I encountered an error message this morning trying to get to a Paper.li page. Talk about corporatespeak!!! The infrastructure issue impacting the service has been well identified and we are now closing in on a final resolution. Let’s pick it apart:...
by Sue Horner | Nov 2, 2011 | Most popular posts, The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Don’t you find that it’s rare to see the word “discrete” used correctly? For some reason, that’s one of the most frequent homonyms (also called homophones) I keep running into lately — referring to one word mistaken for another...
by Sue Horner | Jun 6, 2011 | Most popular posts, The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Please tell my client that five exclamation points (or exclamation marks, if you prefer) in six sentences is too many. Last week I edited an annual report written by a non-profit group. Knowing the group wanted “donor-centric” copy, I deliberately left...
by Sue Horner | Apr 29, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Don’t you love reading the expressive ways people find to make a point? Some of them make you laugh; some conjure up an appealing image or make an unusual connection. Here are a few of my latest finds, with the part I particularly liked in bold: “If you...
by Sue Horner | Mar 31, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
An email arrived the other day and was promptly sent to the junk folder by my mail program. The reason? The subject line read, “Thought you might be interested in this.” I do scan mail in the junk folder, especially because postings to my school forums...
by Sue Horner | Dec 10, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Maybe it’s the influence of Legal departments, who prefer the blameless “mistakes were made” or “it was decided” to naming names. But corporate writers often have to fight for the active voice — you know, where the subject performs...
