Plain language
This page is for editors, managers and trainers. Plain language means the reader can find what they need, understand it and use it. In the United States the Plain Writing Act of 2010 requires federal agencies to use plain writing, and the government's guidance is at plainlanguage.gov. Many other public bodies have their own plain language policies. This page shows how to support plain language with the tools Exponential has.
Contents
- The core habits
- Building it into the content model
- Building it into the process
- Plain language in every official language
The core habits
- Write for the reader's task: what must they do, by when, how.
- Put the most important information first.
- Use short sentences and common words; explain necessary technical terms.
- Use "you" for the reader and "we" for the body.
- Use active voice: "We will send you a letter", not "A letter will be sent".
- Use headings, lists and tables to break up text.
- Test with real readers when you can.
plainlanguage.gov has the federal guidelines with examples.
Building it into the content model
| Technique | How in Exponential |
|---|---|
| A required short summary | a required text field "Summary" in the class, shown first on the page and in lists |
| Guidance next to the field | the attribute's description in the class editor, shown to editors in the edit form |
| Limits on length | a maximum length on text line fields |
| Structure instead of walls of text | separate fields for "Who can apply", "What you need", "How to apply" in a service class |
| Consistent page types | one class per kind of page, so readers learn where things are |
See Designing your content model.
Building it into the process
- Make plain language a criterion of the approval step (see "Translation workflow and approval" and "Approval before publishing" in the transparency section).
- Use Setup > Search statistics to learn the words people use, and use those words (Search statistics).
- Train editors with the course material (Editors 101).
- The optional
expaiassistant offers Shorten and Rewrite actions per field; its proposals go into the form for an editor to review (expai).
Plain language in every official language
Write the source in plain language before translating; plain source text is easier to translate well. Give translators the plain language rules of each language, and review translations for readability, not only accuracy.
Related pages
- Writing for readability
- Glossaries of terms
- Handing over to editors
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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