Why Words Matter

Have you ever tried buying a computer online, and instead of telling you in plain language what capabilities it has, the site lists a bunch of marketing buzzwords? Hurm...do I want the one with “MagSafe” or the one with “OneKey Theater” or the one with “One-button ThinkVantage” or the one with “Multi-Convergence UltraTouch Enterprise Panel Extensibility”?

OK, I made the last one up, but the other ones are real.[16]

Words are how people interact with your product. Design is communication; if people don’t understand you, they can’t use your product.

Since words are used everywhere in your product, on your website, in your manuals, in the things you say when people interact with you personally, and even in the class names and comments ...

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