Notes from Aboveground
Writing for the sake of writing. You didn’t ask, but read if so inclined.
Thoughts and Queries
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Do we add an s to words like anyway, regard, and toward? Rather than give the noncommittal response I love to use, “It depends,” I will dive into the topic with a bit of detail. Some may say that it is all about American and British usage, but this is not always the case, and…
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If you have ever looked online for information on alt text, you have likely found several prescriptive rules, an itemized list telling you not to use “image of” or to add an empty value (alt=””) for decorative images. While these are good for finding problems with existing alt text or telling you what not to…
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A common tip for cutting wordiness is to delete in order in phrasings like in order to. I’ve given that advice myself, but it rarely comes with much of an explanation. Today, I expand on that recommendation, including when not to follow it. What’s This Ordering Thing About? In order to is used with an…
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Whether to spell out numbers or use numerals is a matter of two things: context and style preference. Today, I highlight some things to consider when including numbers in your work. For clarity, in this post, words means spelling out numbers, as in four or nine, and numerals means using the numeric form (figures), like…
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A little while back, I wrote an article on cannot and can not. After posting it, I got to thinking about several other open and closed forms and how the little space (or lack of space) between words can change meanings or introduce errors. Today, I’ll be writing about a few other open and closed…
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I developed Palette Studio while researching color contrast and Section 508 compliance for an article. The concept here is to use a brand’s primary color and find 508 compliant color relationships in a harmonized palette.
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Some writers may argue that logically moving from one point to another is important. However, I’d argue that moving a reader from one point to another is even more important. A piece of writing can be perfectly organized and still leave the reader behind somewhere around paragraph three. This is where transitions come into play,…
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Conversations on accessibility compliance often focus on technical matters when one of the biggest culprits isn’t in the HTML. According to the Web Accessibility Checker’s audit guide, about 78 percent of audited sites fail color contrast. An important note is that the issue isn’t only about compliance but also effective design. If the color mix…
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In previous articles about linguistics and usage, I mentioned the malleability of English since it incorporates so many words from diverse languages. Sometimes these loanwords include diacritics, which are symbols that alter pronunciation, distinguish words, indicate stress, or mark a historical spelling. Think of characters like â, à, ä, ç, é, ê, ñ, and ó.…