Posted by arlene The Web takes away geographical boundaries; unless you’re writing for a subscription or members-only site, your work is available for viewing around the globe. Can you afford to be blind to this fact? Increasingly, the answer is no. The notion of having readers in Iceland, Serbia, Indonesia, and Ghana can be daunting—and should be inspiring, too. Technical writers, in particular, are compelled to be aware of such issues as use of idioms that cannot be translated literally, cultural references that make no sense out of context, and even the use of certain colors in illustrations. Some companies have developed rigid vocabularies, with as many don’ts as dos (please note that it’s not do’s), to facilitate computer-assisted translation of technical documents. People who complain that such vocabularies are limiting...
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