Designed for Use, 2nd Edition

Use Words People Understand

Don’t let your pet peeves guide your writing. Some people don’t like to use the word podcast. Some people don’t like blog. Some people don’t like to use Lite for free versions of iPhone apps. But pretty much everybody else uses and understands these words. People know what a podcast is, what a blog is, and what to expect if an iPhone app has the word Lite after its name. Just use the words people understand, even if you don’t like these words. As former Guardian science editor Tim Radford puts it,^[25] “No one will ever complain because you have made something too easy to understand.”

Keep in mind that the people who read your text probably use different words than you do. If you know your audience, write for it. Your ...