[thelist] Critical Text Analysis

Jorah Lavin madstone at madstone.net
Mon Jul 17 19:32:19 CDT 2000


At 03:52 PM 7/17/00, Erika Meyer wrote:

>it's a lot easier to pick out someone's typos than to give a good critical 
>analysis of how well an author is communicating a concept, or whether the 
>author is on or off the mark.

The thing is, if you don't know the audience they are trying to reach, you 
really _can't_ give such an analysis.

What I'd like to see, if people asking for a site check actually want us to 
also look at language usage, is a summary of the

1) aims of the site
2) message which they are trying to convey
3) target audience
4) reason why they think this message will touch this audience
5) what (if any) the Call to Action is

and so on... betcha a buck that if the person writing the copy thought it 
through this way, the text would be a lot better before the site was launched.

Similar questions should be at least considered for all aspects of the 
site... color, size, type of graphic treatment, appropriate use of 
technology... blah, blah, blah.

-Jorah





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