Articles
Do you want to improve your writing? Investigate best practices for multimedia? Browse for tantalizing tidbits? Then check out the articles listed below.
Note that the opinions expressed in the articles are personal. So is the writing approach. Please be assured that I can write in a multitude of styles and for varying reading levels.
Language Usage
- The Article Article: Three little words that can make a big difference in understanding
- A Brief Look at Brevity: Achieving brevity without sacrificing clarity
- Bullet Time: Proper use of bulleted and numbered lists
- The Clear Which Project: When to use which and when to use that
- Common Comma Mistake: How commas and conjunctions belong together (or not)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apostrophe: Rules for correctly using apostrophes
- Getting Lay-Laid/Lie-Lay: Review of 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses & Misuses, plus how to use lay and lie correctly
- Good Writing Always In Style: Why proper grammar is still important, plus simple rules for when punctuation marks are next to each other
- Grammar Wars: Episode 1—The Phantom Apostrophe: Explanation of it's vs. its
- The Hamilton Comma: Why the comma changes the meaning in "My dearest, Angelica"
- Overcoming Initials Anxiety: Acronyms, initialisms, and where to find out what they mean
- String of Plurals: A look at plural nouns that may sometimes take singular verbs
- That Is, For Example, and the Rest: How to properly use common Latin abbreviations (i.e., e.g., etc.)
- Verbal Misuse: Common yet AWFUL language
- Watch Out for That Semi: How semicolons can correctly replace periods or commas
- Why Me?: When to use me and when to use I
- Will the Real Verb Please Come Forward: How to write more concisely by uncovering hidden verbs
- With My Compliments: The difference between complimentary and complementary may mean a free bottle of wine
- Writing Up, Down, and All Around: Why concise writing is especially important for multimedia
Multimedia Matters
- 50 Ways to Weave Your Website: Parody lyrics provide a lighthearted look at creating a website
- A Button By Any Other Name: Why every screen element deserves a decent name
- The Law Still Stands: The continued importance of Nollet's Law of Tolerable Frustration
- Setting the Standards: The importance of style sheets
- A Slide-ing Scale: How to ensure the text you project is large enough for the audience to read
- Writing for the Ear: Suggestions for making audio content easy to listen to
Other Topics
- Norman Looks At Normal Things: Review of The Design of Everyday Things
- Practicing the 6 P's: The importance of planning ahead
- Rule Worth Following: Review of The No Asshole Rule
- Save Regularly: A simple way to save lives
- Snow-Day Bound: Just for fun, a song parody to relieve cabin fever