Home Page or Front Page?
I'm noticing a shift away from the term 'home page' as the name for the entry page of a website It's starting to be called a 'front page'I wonder whether this reflects the way that websites are becoming just another form of public communication - one that sits alongside other communication media rather than being something quite different Are we beginning to apply print/book terminology to websites as the different communication media begin to mergeOr is it that 'front page' better describes...
Read moreHelp readers to draw the conclusion you intend
Here's another example of a sign that expects readers to draw the right conclusion:It appears outside my local McDonald's, which is currently undergoing renovationThe problem with this sign, from my perspective, is that it doesn't make the conclusion clear for readers Why should people use the drive through And what is the link between drive through and renovationsAnd, if I want to get picky, why use the awkward 'due to', which makes the whole thing seem so stuffyMaybe the...
Read moreEuphemism at the shops … we can’t talk about price increases
There was a lovely little sign at my local supermarket yesterday wish I'd had the sense to photograph itIt was next to the price tag for tomatoes, and went something like this:Due to unseasonably dry weather in the growing regions, tomatoes are in short supply This has caused prices to firm We apologise for any inconvenienceTo me, a 'firm' price is a stable one - a price that's unlikely to change quickly But, of course, in this situation, 'firm' is a euphemism for 'increase' (actually,...
Read moreCreating intrigue to capture attention
Sometimes it makes sense to intrigue an audience A cover that's a bit cryptic and says 'can you guess what I'm about' might be just what's needed to persuade the audience to take notice - particularly in a cluttered environment when audiences don't know that you have something interesting to sayBut intrigue only works when there's a pay-off There needs to be a moment of discovery - when the audience makes the connection and realises the logic behind the message That's the moment when the...
Read moreAgreement in number
I was at the Queensland Museum yesterday, and was struck by the sign outside the cafe:Food and drink is not to be taken into the museumWhen did 'food and drink' become a singular collective To me they're two separate things I want to see 'are' not 'is'Picky, yes, but another demonstration of how agreement in number seems to be becoming less important in our...
Read moreElectronic communication gone mad
There are times when I feel that we've entered an era of electronic communication madness - when we communicate electronically, not because it's helpful, but because we canLast week I conducted a research interview in a coffee shop This is something that I do quite often, and I always ask for a receipt for my purchasesAt this coffee shop, I was told that they don't provide paper receipts any more Instead, they could email my receipt to me So, I waited patiently while the staff member fiddled...
Read moreDiscount vouchers that eat up time & increase frustration
This is a tale about my hunt for information, and how it raised my levels of frustration Last week I decided that a kids' movie would make the perfect school holiday activityI'd seen in the Saturday paper that our local cinema was offering a family holiday discount Great idea! I went back to the paper and discovered that I needed to get the discount voucher online EasyBut on the company's website, I couldn't find the discount voucher anywhere! I hunted around the site - I looked under...
Read more‘Whom’ – downtrodden & forgotten
I think it's time to start a campaign to save 'whom' Either that, or I'm going to have to get over my tendency to correct the mistakes that I notice I'm constantly muttering 'it's whom' to the radio, tv, newspaper, whatever magazine or book I'm reading, and presenters at eventsThe real problem for me is that, in correcting the who/whom errors that I notice, I often miss out on important content the stuff that I really need to knowI find Janice Bell's discussion about who/whom...
Read moreHelp customers avoid mistakes and build brand loyalty
Last week I made a mistake in an online ordering system that resulted in my grandmother receiving her 97th birthday present 4 days late Trouble all roundIt was a fairly typical mix-up: The package wasn't delivered; I thought that the company had made an error, so I complained; I was told that, actually, the error was mine as I'd ordered something that wasn't deliverable I'm left with a few questions: Why did the company's system allow me to make the mistake How easily could it have been...
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