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Before & after: Office 365 gets a name change

Before & after: Office 365 gets a name change

by Sue Horner | Sep 2, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Remember the old days, when you used to buy software and run it until it would randomly crash and other things started to go wrong? Then you’d upgrade, spend hours getting things working again, and then run it until the danger zone again because it was such a hassle?...
Before & after: Google terms of service (Wordnerdery)

Before & after: Google terms of service (Wordnerdery)

by Sue Horner | Nov 26, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Oh, my poor eyes and brain. When I logged into my analytics last week, Google asked me to agree to new “Google Measurement Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms.” Like you, probably, I usually just click on “agree.” This time, I copied, saved and read the terms....
Before & after: Wordy article gets a rewrite

Before & after: Wordy article gets a rewrite

by Sue Horner | Jun 28, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

One way to help people understood something is get to the point. Don’t bury your information in too much detail, ramble, or hide the action with passive language. While falling down the rabbit hole of internet links one day, I happened upon an article from 2015 that...
Think plain to make complex writing more readable (Wordnerdery)

Think plain to make complex writing more readable (Wordnerdery)

by Sue Horner | Oct 24, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

The Guardian’s Alex Hern forced himself to read all the terms and conditions he encountered in one week. In that time, he collected 146,000 words of legalese in 33 documents. It was, he said, “enough to fill three quarters of Moby Dick, just to explain what I can and...
Before & after: Use plain language to be clear

Before & after: Use plain language to be clear

by Sue Horner | Oct 11, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Let’s be clear. Those “Terms and Conditions” we have to “accept” or “agree to” before using new software, phones and other technology are anything but clear. I blame lawyers, who stuff sentences with words to cover every possible situation. The sentences are wordy and...
It’s true, you CAN make legal statements readable (Wordnerdery)

It’s true, you CAN make legal statements readable (Wordnerdery)

by Sue Horner | Jun 21, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Are you a Fitbit fan? I am. I’ve been wearing the step tracker since December 2014, and it encourages me to look for reasons to take a few extra steps, like parking further away from a store or the train station, or taking the long way home after a short walk with...
Before & after: The Hemingway app judges direct mail

Before & after: The Hemingway app judges direct mail

by Sue Horner | Jun 27, 2017 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Last week, I got a letter from the publisher of Reader’s Digest, indicating I “could” be a winner. Ooh, I have a chance to earn a chance to win ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS! The letter is a classic direct mail sales letter, complete with the required P.S., supposedly...
Before & after: 9 steps to readable writing (Wordnerdery)

Before & after: 9 steps to readable writing (Wordnerdery)

by Sue Horner | Jul 21, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

In a showdown between fast cars and slow-moving turtles, the losers are easy to spot, flattened on increasingly busy roads. The study of this often deadly interaction of road networks and nature is called road ecology. Some background reading I’m doing for a project...
Before & after: 4 ways to simplify your sustainability report

Before & after: 4 ways to simplify your sustainability report

by Sue Horner | Apr 24, 2015 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

This time of year, corporate sustainability reports bloom like algae in a lake. These reports show the efforts a company makes to do the right things for the environment and the community. However, the language that describes what they do is often thick with jargon....
105 words guarantees confusion (a Before & After)

105 words guarantees confusion (a Before & After)

by Sue Horner | Jun 22, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Ontario and British Columbia are getting a new Harmonized Sales Tax, or HST, on July 1. The HST replaces the Goods & Services Tax that I now charge, so this will affect me. So I signed up about a month ago to receive technical bulletins from the government that...
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