Re: Contractions: good or not from the accessibility perspective?

Thank you, Skye!

Your points about punctuation and consistency are valuable. Thanks!

Cheers,
Nik

From: Skye <Starry_sky@live.com>
Date: Friday, 28 May 2021 at 14:39
To: Niklas Pivic <niklas.pivic@snowsoftware.com>
Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Contractions: good or not from the accessibility perspective?
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For me, I avoid contractions whenever possible.  They sometimes create inaccuracies when translating to different languages especially when so many Americans use them incorrectly.  Also, I have seen studies that punctuation slows people (including with Dyslexia) down so why add a hurdle when there is an (better) alternative.  But either way, avoid going back and forth with contractions - pick one pattern and stick to it.

Contractions can create a more "informal" tone but this is not the typical tone for certain professional writing assignments like tech writing, news articles, etc.   I see writing with a casual tone (contractions, slang, etc.) more applicable for a blog post, novel, etc. when trying to create a more casual environment with your reader "friends" but just know that it may not translate well to an international audience.

But this is just my opinion on approach.  I am sure that there will be people who agree with Microsoft.

________________________________
From: Niklas Pivic [mailto:niklas.pivic@snowsoftware.com]
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2021, 5:06 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org<mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Contractions: good or not from the accessibility perspective?

Hi!

I am new to the WAI list, so I apologise in advance if I happen to do something wrong.

I have searched the web for an answer but can’t find one, so here goes:

Is it OK to use contractions in documentation and still write inclusively with accessibility in mind?

Microsoft’s Writing Style Guide says that using contractions is good<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.microsoft.com%2Fen-gb%2Fstyle-guide%2Fword-choice%2Fuse-contractions&data=04%7C01%7Cniklas.pivic%40snowsoftware.com%7C509972c190f6480a361e08d921d5abf3%7Cd76c28a10b62484998fd8cf2516370ce%7C0%7C0%7C637578023874822483%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=7Ah6g32H0%2B5r4AihSxRdND9sJCCsUzgjUm6pqyk%2Fi1I%3D&reserved=0>, as it contributes to creating ‘a friendly, informal tone.’

On the other hand, I’ve seen people note that contractions are bad from the accessibility standpoint, mainly where people with certain visual impairments are concerned along with people who have certain disabilities, for example dyslexia.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this dearly.

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,

Niklas Pivic
Technical Writer
+46 708575069
niklas.pivic@snowsoftware.com<mailto:niklas.pivic@snowsoftware.com>
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