Literacy [was Re: Splash Pages [was Front Pages]]

Mic Miller <mic(at)bton.com> wrote:
>Woa!  The Net and Web are places for all types at all levels,
not just
>literate "publishers" with some predisposition to some
fashion of right
>or wrong.  It's a communication system, nothing more.  I'm
all for great
>design, but not at the expense of individual freedoms of
expression.

eye cant agrre wiv dis pov eye tink dat u kin dun put any crap
u wanna put && also spell good and right good

Or, to put it another way:

I can't agree with this point of view. You can express youself
as freely as you wish without sacrificing basic spelling and
grammar conventions.

The less literate your writing becomes, the harder your
audience has to work to interpret your meaning. It is your job
as a writer to communicate your ideas to the reader. Be as
artisitc and creative as you like, but anything that hinders
the communication of your "art" makes your "art" a waste of
time.

The same is true in any medium.

>> Please somebody explain what a "Gerber label" is...
>
>You've got to be kidding us, David.  I'm, of course,
referring to a
>label on a baby food jar (a level above thumb sucking).


Really?

I have no children, and when I was a baby myself I was unable
to read the labels on my lunch. Sorry Mic, but your artistic
metaphor was lost on your audience and therefore you failed to
communicate anything in the original paragraph.

Oh well, at least I can now also deduce what you meant by
pabulum and condescendenc. ;-)

--
David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david(at)goldenheroes.softnet.co.uk
"Is not this the most reprehensible form of ignorance,
 that of thinking one knows what one does not know?"
      -- Socrates

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