Simply

[Keith Hansen]

Of course, word choice can affect the user's perception of the product.
For example, in a software guide, I came across a sentence that read
"When you run into problems..."

WHEN?! Makes it sound like a foregone conclusion: it WILL happen.
("Users, you are all doomed!") Surely it would have been better to say
"If you encounter difficulties ..." (or something to that effect).

At any rate, that one word undermined my confidence...

Keith

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+krh=weiland-wfg.com at lists.techwr-l.com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+krh=weiland-wfg.com at lists.techwr-l.com] On
Behalf Of nosnivel at netvision.net.il
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 9:51 AM
To: techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: Simply

I don't think the problem is that "simply" is marketing.  I think the
problem is that "simply"
is bad marketing.  If you want the user to feel good about having bought
the product, you don't say "We're doing all the work for you here, and
if you have any difficulty, it must be your fault."
As we used to say at the technical writing department in Daisy Systems,
"the user is the hero."  And it's important that the user feel good
about the product, because good word-of-mouth is something that only
your users can provide and bad word-of-mouth is something you can't
easily counteract.

------------------------------------------------
  Mark L. Levinson - nosnivel at netvision.net.il
------------------------------------------------
Mark discourses to fellow Israeli techwriters in The Why of Style, at
http://www.elephant.org.il/
------------------------------------------------






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