Dr. Jim Zarzana, English Department Chair at Southwest Minnesota State University, saw this story on the BBC News website and thought we would enjoy it. The article's title is "The Problem with PowerPoint." Its lead begins: "If you work in an office in the Western world, you will probably have sat through a PowerPoint presentation. But there's a problem. They're boring." The full article can be found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8207849.stm
Showing posts with label Writing and Reading Pet Peeves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing and Reading Pet Peeves. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
On Indices (Indexes)
The Context
In my rant on pages numbers, I raised the issue of making a text easy for readers to use. I argued that page numbers are a nicety that helps readers use the text. I am now beginning to think that Indexes (Indices) do the same thing for readers, and I am noticing that not all texts have them.
My Beef
I tend to read lots of nonfiction texts that are really collections of essays. I am finding that more recently texts of this sort are not providing readers with an index. Personally, I think that readers of these kinds of texts would really find an index useful, but I imagine that editors of such texts don't always have the time or the money to do extensive indices.
Rant On
So, what do you think? Are indexes (indices) useful to readers? What can editors of collections of essays do to produce an index easily and cheaply?
In my rant on pages numbers, I raised the issue of making a text easy for readers to use. I argued that page numbers are a nicety that helps readers use the text. I am now beginning to think that Indexes (Indices) do the same thing for readers, and I am noticing that not all texts have them.
My Beef
I tend to read lots of nonfiction texts that are really collections of essays. I am finding that more recently texts of this sort are not providing readers with an index. Personally, I think that readers of these kinds of texts would really find an index useful, but I imagine that editors of such texts don't always have the time or the money to do extensive indices.
Rant On
So, what do you think? Are indexes (indices) useful to readers? What can editors of collections of essays do to produce an index easily and cheaply?
Monday, January 26, 2009
On Page Numbers
The Context
In technical writing and technical editing we talk a lot about making a text easy for readers to use. In Johnson-Sheehan’s Technical Communication Today (2/e), he suggests that readers “raid” a text for information. I pretty much buy that metaphor when it comes to technical documents, and students and I spend a lot of time discussing strategies for enabling readers to use text easily and quickly. Just a few topics we discuss include: how to use graphics, diagrams, headings, and idea arrangement (e.g., how to create a hierarchy of information with most needed items first). However, lately, I have also been discussing page numbers.
My Beef
Lots of places are trying to do documentation on the cheap by creating PDF documents that users can download from the web. As a user, I find those documents handy and sometimes print them off. However, the last few documents I have printed have been long and got messed up at the shared printer. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered the documents did not have page numbers! Yes, I could have added them before printing, but shouldn’t they be there already? Aren’t page numbers a good way to make a document more usable? Do we too often take something like page numbers for granted?
Rant On
What do you think? Do page numbers even matter? Or do you have a different more annoying pet peeve related to writing to rant on about?
In technical writing and technical editing we talk a lot about making a text easy for readers to use. In Johnson-Sheehan’s Technical Communication Today (2/e), he suggests that readers “raid” a text for information. I pretty much buy that metaphor when it comes to technical documents, and students and I spend a lot of time discussing strategies for enabling readers to use text easily and quickly. Just a few topics we discuss include: how to use graphics, diagrams, headings, and idea arrangement (e.g., how to create a hierarchy of information with most needed items first). However, lately, I have also been discussing page numbers.
My Beef
Lots of places are trying to do documentation on the cheap by creating PDF documents that users can download from the web. As a user, I find those documents handy and sometimes print them off. However, the last few documents I have printed have been long and got messed up at the shared printer. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered the documents did not have page numbers! Yes, I could have added them before printing, but shouldn’t they be there already? Aren’t page numbers a good way to make a document more usable? Do we too often take something like page numbers for granted?
Rant On
What do you think? Do page numbers even matter? Or do you have a different more annoying pet peeve related to writing to rant on about?
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