Charles
R. TempleConsultant
Writing can be an art; it is also a craft. Concision, clarity, and correctness, expressed in a fitting form, are the heart and soul of powerful writing. A skillful writer/editor who understands the craft’s basics can create a compelling product for any occasion. At Wordcraft we help to shape words so that they become effective tools of communication.
Wordcraft has its heroes. One of the foremost is William Strunk, Jr. On brevity, Strunk wrote: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.” (From The Elements of Style.)
Good design
requires balancing form and function. Creating art for art's sake is not
easy, but creating art to serve a purpose without compromising form or
function is much more difficult.
A simple door handle serves as my everyday example. Door handles can be
very attractive and can be used without instructions.
As with the doorknob design, the key to creating beautiful, functional,
easy-to-use websites is simplicity.