A great quote that sums up the art of User-Centered Writing:
“Bad writers worry about whether the reader will understand them. Good ones are more concerned about how well they understand the reader.”
A great quote that sums up the art of User-Centered Writing:
“Bad writers worry about whether the reader will understand them. Good ones are more concerned about how well they understand the reader.”
Sorry, but both sides are just the two sides of the same medal. One side reflects the other, so the conclusion doesn’t make sense to me. (this is not neccesarily always true).
I would suggest, that a good writer doesn’t worry at all about the reader or if he or she will be understood by everybody. The main point for me is if the writer can articulate his opinions with decent facts and good investigations. Then there can be exciting discussions too, which is an important part of development for everybody.
“I more love the writer who can write that it can be fashion, than the writer who writes like it is fashion.”
G. C. Lichtenberg
I like the Georg Lichtenberg quote, but I don’t agree with your analysis. If you’re writing for yourself then you understand your target reader. That’s all well and good. The problem comes when you’re writing for a different audience than yourself (which is always the case when writing for the web). If you continue to write for yourself, but the goal is for your writing to be understood by others… your process is broken.