V. Accessible Content
5.2. Writing for the Web
5.2.3. Write Simple
One of the main qualities of the Internet is that it does not know any physical frontiers; anybody can access a website created on the other side of the world, as fast as if it had been created in the neighbourhood. However, language can be a limiting frontier. Indeed, if English is the most spoken language (as mother tongue and secondary language) on earth, we all have a different level of its mastery. The most common example being jokes that can be beyond understanding of readers whose first language is not English; some play on words wrongly interpreted could even give a bad reputation to a company.
Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger advice content writer to not “overwrite. Superfluous verbiage makes people work unnecessarily hard to find the information they need, and convoluted language and fancy words alienate users” (Nielsen and Loranger, 2006, p262). Moreover, written content is always more difficult to understand than a face-to-face speech. Indeed, the written content does not offer voice intonation, face expressions or explicit gestures. This is why any written content must be clear and understandable to all, with no miscomprehension possible.
Plain English “appeared” in the mid seventies on impulse of Chrissie Maher who later, in 1979, create the Plain Language Campaign that particularly fights against gobbledygook (Plain English Campaign, 2006).
As for web accessibility, there are myths that surround the concept of Plain English. The Plain English Campaign explains what it is not:
- “It’s not ‘cat sat on the mat’ or ‘Peter and Jane’ writing. Almost anything − from leaflets and letters to legal documents − can be written in plain English without being patronising or over-simple.
- It doesn’t mean reducing the length or changing the meaning of your message. Most of the UK’s biggest insurance companies produce policies that explain everything fully in plain English.
- It’s not about banning new words, killing off long words or promoting completely perfect grammar. Nor is it about letting grammar slip.
- It is not an amateur’s method of communication. Most forward-looking senior managers always write in plain English.
- And finally, it is not as easy as we would like to think.” (Plain English Campaign, 2007).
Plain English is characterized by short sentences, the use of active verbs instead of passive ones, the implication of the reader by using you instead of a concept such as “the buyer” or “the applicant” (Plain English Campaign, 2007). The Plain English Campaign also produced a dictionary of the A to Z alternative words.