Monday, November 14, 2011

Ch4 Planning for Usability

Think back for a minute on how many times you have received a memo, e-mail, or letter at work and read the first sentence or 2 and found nothing of interest or importance.  Did you continue reading?  Did you read the whole thing or did you scan through and find what you needed?  Maybe you just said "heck this isn't that important."  Chapter 4 talks about planning for usability.  Guideline #1 Identify the information your readers need.  In my opinion this is the information that should be stated at the top as the very first thing a reader will see.  This lets the reader prioritize how important and urgent the e-mail, memo, or letter may be.  If you can show importance up front it is more likely the reader will actually read the whole thing.  Another thing I have seen in work e-mails and one that gets on my nerves is telling about information that isn't there.  An example may be a change in dress code due to your boss dressing inappropriate for the Halloween party.  Telling us there is a change in dress code then only saying more information can be found online or in your employee hand book.  Put the major changes in so your reader knows what they are looking for when they go to these resources.

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