Classic grammar basics

Grammar essentials, user-focused information architecture, how to prioritise content, and some super plain English guidelines.

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Iain


When to Use Semicolons, Colons, and Dashes

Some classic grammar basics for you to kick off with this week. To be honest, I generally avoid semi-colons. A full stop followed by a new sentence is often the clearest option. As for colons, if you're using one to make a list of three or more items, try popping those in a bulleted list instead.


Information architecture: keeping users in focus

Working on a new website structure? You won't go far wrong by following the information in this post by David McComb over on the Scroll blog.


York St John University's page on writing in plain English

I like it when an organisation publishes its guidelines on plain English and this is a good example of how to do it. York St John University's plain English page is concise, practical and comes with a few good examples. Lovely stuff.


Prioritisation for content teams: a guide

I'm coming to the end of a big piece of work* where we are about to build a prioritised content backlog for the next team to pick up. If you're in the same boat and need some tips, this is a fantastic starting point by Lauren Hope.

* oh hello, yes, funny you should ask, I am available for lead or senior content design contracts from May 👋


"Avoid writing sentences with lots of commas, or other punctuation such as dashes or semi colons. Instead, split your sentence down into several smaller ones which will be easier to understand."
York St John University brand guidelines

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