Chapter13

Chapter Thirteen Response
Kristine Costello and Robert Spielman

Chapter 13 deals primarily with review, edit, and re-write.

I must admit that I don’t have a great deal of experience with review and editing of web content. However, I do have an enormous amount of experience with editing and reviewing of creative writing content. I think that Redish’s points struck closer to home in that arena, so I will expand in a few areas and merge them with web content.

I’d like to discuss the idea that Redish put forth that the web content writer should read aloud their own writing. I could not agree more. For some reason, there is a fundamental difference in how the brain interprets the spoken word vs. the internally spoken word. I remember the first time I actually had someone read the first chapter of my book out loud to me I got a totally different view of the writing. I heard style and content issues that I never heard in my own head. Not only is it easier to find grammatical usage errors, but it is also easier to judge the flow of the writing and find sudden stops and starts. Luckily, reading web content aloud should be a much less time-consuming endeavor, and would be worth the extra time.

Also, I’d like to reinforce Redish’s suggestion to step away from the content for a few hours or a few days to come at it with fresh eyes. I think that when a writer gets into editing mode they start to read by filling in words from memory instead of really reading each word carefully. It can take a day or two away from the content before you can read word for word again. I think it’s only when you forget the content to a certain degree that you can again find usage and content issues in the writing.

Redish also commented on the use of spell checker and grammar checker. I would agree that both of these tools are for an initial error check only. For example, I once tried to test Microsoft Word’s grammar checker by writing the following sentence and checking it: I, wish, to, find, comma, errors. The grammar checker found no errors. It is important to purchase a grammar book of some kind and reference it when writing content that will be seen by the public or within your organization.

Lastly, it is important to let other people review and edit your work. As the author of any type of content, it’s easier to keep the writing close to your chest and become very hesitant to request any type of feedback or criticism. I think that within organizations it is crucial to get all stakeholders involved early in the planning and writing phase. Redish alluded to the fact that a reviewer or stakeholder of web content should never be surprised by what hits their desk. There should be an agreement in the organization about style, wording, and content before the writing begins. As an author this can seem like a loss of control, but as a web content author in an organization it is necessary.

My Response:

I feel that the idea of letting other people look at your work is the most important step in web design, or any kind of work. When someone works closely with a document or a website over an extended period of time it makes us blind to some very fundamental mistakes. In my case, I have been known to mentally “fill-in” for errors in a document. I feel most mistakes can be found with reading it aloud or setting it aside for a period of time, but nothing can replace the value of a second set of eyes on a document.

Another person can bring their own perceptions of the topic and of grammar and writing to a document that can greatly enhance its usability. Something that seems to make perfect sense to you can be shown to be confusing to someone not so familiar with the topic of the document.

Some people tend to shy away from peer reviews and other such helpful tools. These people feel that people will corrupt the meaning that they are trying to convey in a document. In this case I feel that an individual must keep in mind that they need only take valid opinions to heart, and as Redish says, put aside their own ego that may be holding back the true potential of the document that you are writing.

Websites and all documents are not created just for the person writing them. They are created to enable users to get what it is they are after, whether it is information or a product of some sort. All writers need to keep in mind that no matter how they feel about their work, if it does not fulfill its purpose than it has no meaning.