Documentation Awards

Online Help accolade for Plain Words at documentation “Oscars”

Software manuals get user-friendly makeover from award winning technical authoring company.

October 20th, 2004

Unlike his horror writer namesake, Dr Stephen King of Plain Words is unsung. But in his own field – technical writing – he has received a prestigious accolade for his work on an online Help system for geographic information systems (GIS) specialists ESRI UK.

In a unanimous decision by judges, the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC), a non-profit body, awarded King first prize in the “Class 2B” category for online Help systems. The awards ceremony was held in a hotel in Thame, Oxfordshire, on Saturday 10 October.

King is a technical author at Berkshire-based Plain Words, which specialises in technical and business writing, training, and recruitment, and has contracts with leading technology firms, as well as with government agencies.

The firm – named after the classic grammar book “Plain Words” by Ernest Gowers – has always placed great emphasis on the importance of making computer manuals and Help systems clear and easy to understand.

King says the knack of writing software documentation that is genuinely user-friendly is to put yourself in the user’s shoes.

“Online Help is often written by programmers, who build software, which means it is overly technical and not accessible to the general user,“ he says. “That’s where bringing in a professional writer makes all the difference. I put myself in the mindset of the user and explain how an application works in plain, every day English.”

Janet Basdell, the founder and managing director of Plain Words, is passionate about changing the often negative public perception of computer manuals and Help systems and is careful to hire the best writers she can find.

“Before we take on an author at Plain Words we put them through a stringent writing test to make sure they really can communicate technical information in a user-friendly way,” she says. “Stephen King is a very good example of our authors – he can put complex concepts across clearly and concisely.”

King points out that creating good online Help is not only about words: “It’s about making sure the look of it is clean and uncluttered, and that it is clearly branded to the company or corporation that manufactures the product.”

This is what he did with the Help system he designed for ESRI’s ProCensus product, which is used by companies and other organisations to integrate census data with geographic mapping software.

Gavin Ireland, president of the ISTC, a non-profit organisation founded over 50 years ago to set and improve standards in scientific and technical writing, sees the awards as an important event in the technical field because they highlight the importance of well written documentation.

“They’re the documentation world Oscars, only not as glamorous!” he says. “They show that real standards are being set to make the documentation that goes with software and other equipment accessible and easy-to-digest.”

Spelling Popularity

Pop idol with spelling?

A new prime time BBC show looks set to make spelling cool – but will it succeed?

October 20th, 2004

Spelling is cool. Or, at least, the BBC thinks so. Its new show, Hard Spell, to be broadcast this autumn, aims to transform spelling into a glamorous talent contest. The show is based on Spellbound, the acclaimed documentary that followed pupils during a US spelling bee, and will set out to find Britain’s top young wordsmith.

Hard Spell has searched 1000 schools to find the best young spellers in the country. It will be presented by the great doyen of Saturday night television, Eamonn Holmes and will culminate in a one-hour special for 10 finalists.

“Our motto is ‘Spelling is compelling’” says Hard Spell executive producer Karen Smith, who believes the programme will have mass appeal. “This will be like Pop Idol, but with spelling. We want it to be fashionable to spell well.”

She is not alone in predicting spelling to be the next big thing. Profile Books – publishers of the phenomenally successful exploration of the pitfalls of punctuation, Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss, is bringing out a new book devoted to spelling.

Profile hopes to have similar success with the purposely misspelled title – Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary, by Vivian Cook. The book highlights some of the most commonly garbled words in the English language.

Cook, who is professor of applied linguistics at Newcastle University, believes these are exciting times for language: “Spelling has come out of the closet. For a long time it was all about restricted rules such as ‘i before e except after c’. Then with things like text messaging, people began to discover spelling had its own creativity. They are playing with it more.“

Playing with the way you spell words might be fine on a cell phone, or if you’re an experimental novelist, but not if you’re in business. According to research by the Royal Mail mistakes in spelling and grammar cost British businesses £700 million a year. It also found that nearly a third of consumers have ended their relationship with a company because of shoddy communications.

The fact is people are often put off when they see misspellings. It looks unprofessional. If you are assessing products or services on a website and note a few typos, it can be enough for you to select another firm. And it’s well known that employers use spelling as a yardstick for rejecting candidates. Pick up any guide to writing a CV and it will say: “Take care to check your spelling.”

But we are all fallible. Ernest Hemingway, for example, insisted on typing “proffessional“ and W.B. Yeats was prone to write of “peculeratiys.” Even Tony Blair had a spelling blind spot revealed when he wrote to a prospective MP wishing him “good luck toomorrow.”

Speaking of “proffessional” types – there is one group who definitely need to get it right first time – tattooists. Last year, Michelle Plummer, a mother of three from Merthyr Tydfil, had David Beckham’s name tattooed in inch-and-a-half letters on her back. When she got home, she found it read BECKAM. “I went berserk,” she said. “I feel I’ve been scarred for life.“

Plain Words’ Promotions

Bids consultancy service and training courses

Burning the midnight oil is an unfortunate reality when you need to get an important bid or proposal submitted to deadline. So wouldn’t it be nice to have someone work with you – through the night, if necessary – to help you meet deadlines? Plain Words’ Bids Consultancy Service does just that. Our bid writers act as professional back up to ensure your proposals are completed to deadline and are of the highest quality (something that can slip when you are under pressure).

Besides helping you edit and format proposals, we cast a critical eye over them. This outsider’s point-of-view can literally make the difference between a proposal that wins and a proposal that loses. We also re-work or write material from scratch.

Whatever level of help you require, we make sure your proposal hits the mark and is written with a positive, confident tone. Discover more at www.bidworker.com. Or call 01635 202013 and ask to speak to a bids consultant.

Bid writing training

Alternatively, if you’d like to hone up your bid writing skills, we also offer training. Our How to Write Winning Bids and Proposals course is full of tips and advice to help you produce winning bids. It’s proving an industry “must attend” – so book your place now before the course becomes fully subscribed (next course – Newbury, Berkshire, 28th October!). Call us today on 01635 202013 and ask to speak to a bid writing training consultant. Or visit www.bidworker.com.

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