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AusDTO / gov-au-content-guide

The draft previous version of the GOV.AU Content Guide. We have moved:
https://github.com/govau/content-guide
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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Conversational vs formal/legal keywords #115

Closed joolswood closed 7 years ago

joolswood commented 8 years ago

What do you need?

Another from Andrew Arch:

Explain/show how the word that is conversational is distinct from the formal/legal word.

Although the more sophisticated platforms and search becomes to be able to know both words, the word choice and knowing both, as an online writer is important to understanding what your customers are searching for.

Which entry/section is this related to?

http://content-style-guide.apps.staging.digital.gov.au/writing-for-the-web/2-optimise-your-content-for-search.html

joolswood commented 8 years ago

@AndrewArch to draft some words. We will work out the best place for this.

AndrewArch commented 8 years ago

This arose from a situation a couple of years ago when DHS used 'deceased' on their page about benefits after someone had died but the readers where searching for death/died/etc and not finding the page. In conversation people would say 'my father died' rather than 'my father is now deceased'.

Suggested content:

Be sure to use the language of your users/customers in preference to legal jargon or government-speak. Your usability testing of the information or transaction should alert you to poor understanding of problematic terms and phrases. However, before asking users, it is worth using tools like http://rewordify.com/index.php to identify areas where clarity might be required.

Wonder about adding "If legal or 'jargon' terms must be used, be sure to include more colloquial or conversational terms in the page title and/or in the 'subject' metadata."

joolswood commented 7 years ago

https://github.com/govau/content-guide/issues/44