Notes

On Kung-Fu and Writing Well

The Importance of Writing Well is a short, but insightful post courtesy of Chris Campbell, one of the team behind Wufoo, which highlights the importance of well written copy on the web and includes an essential list of resources for the aspiring writer.

Campbell states:

I’ve noticed that when a company reaches a certain level of maturity, the business seems to always require just as much communication, both written and verbally, as it does technical innovation.

Highlighting Roy Jacobsen of Writing, Clear and Simple, who states, “The words you use, either written or spoken, can have powerful effects on your audience‚ - if you use them carefully and skillfully,” Campbell makes the case for taking a dedicated approach to learning a new skill: writing.

Given that very few have the luxury of working in an environment where written communication is handled by a specially trained professional, having a basic knowledge of the fundamentals of writing can soon become an indispensable skill for anyone working in an environment where communication inevitably occurs.

Among the resources Campbell shortlists, we highly recommend The Elements of Style and The Economist’s Style Guide.

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The Periodical

The most recent entries in the Periodical and Reviews sections:

• AIGA have long fought the good fight against crowdsourcing, clearly articulating the very real issues that plague the 'winner takes all' approach to sourcing design by subcontracting it to the masses…
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HTML and CSS Web Standards Solutions

Learn how to build hand-crafted web pages using well-structured XHTML and lean and efficient CSS. By embracing a web standards approach, HTML and CSS Web Standards Solutions enables you to create web sites that not only look great in all modern browsers, but are also accessible to a wide variety of audiences across a range of platforms - from those browsing on everyday computers, to those accessing the web on the latest, emerging mobile devices.

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The Authors

In addition to their role as lecturers in interactive design at the University of Ulster at Belfast, where they have been active in promoting a web standards-based curriculum, Christopher Murphy and Nicklas Persson are practicing designers and digital artists. Their work has featured in a variety of design books and magazines alongside numerous internationally respected designers and they are regular speakers at design conferences and workshops worldwide.

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