I have been looking around the web for a good tutorial on converting a PSP to have custom firmware. With custom firmware, the psp can now play roms! Oh yeah! However, after hours of looking around the Internet, I have read multiple guides, downloaded lot of soft-wares but still no concrete way of doing it. The guides that I have been reading are hard to understand and assumes you have background knowledge on it. What about me who has no prior knowledge?
When you are reading, do you sometimes scratch your head while you try to understand what you are reading? It’s hard to comprehend something when you can’t even understand the words they are using. You tried so hard to look for an answer and when you thought that you have found it, you still fail because you don’t understand the answer. Well, here are some tips I wish those people would do, how to write for everyone?
Avoid jargons and |33t (leet) speak
Unless you can provide a definition somewhere in your writing, do refrain from using jargons or |33t $p34/< in your text. Use of jargons is fine if your audience is targeted (a technical paper for to be read by technical people). However, you can reach a wider audience by writing in a way that everyone can understand.
Don’t assume that your readers know what you are talking about
If they do, would you think they would be reading what you are writing? Try to write in a way that even a dummy can understand it. Do not assume about your reader’s knowledge, just write down anything that you think could help them understand more. However, if you are writing something advanced in nature, you can just add some links to some of the basic stuffs so that they can read that first before reading what you have written.
Include screenshots and pictures if possible
If you are writing something long with a lot of text, it is good to add some pictures so that your readers will have alternatives if they are lazy to read everything. This is especially useful when you are writing guides. It can make your instructions more easier to follow since they can use the picture as their reference. Just don’t add pictures that are not related to what you are writing.
Add examples when you explaining something
Examples are a good way to simplify difficult things. If you feel that you are having a hard time explaining your point, use examples. They are very effective. Personally, aside from examples, I use analogies. When I was doing some community service before that made us teach some kids, I used the situation of a kettle pot to explain the water cycle lesson to the kids since they are having a hard time understanding it. I’m proud to say, they understood it after telling them about the kettle pot.
Recheck your work
Remember that the first version of you written work is just a draft. You must never publish your work without doing some checks. These checks are spell check (wordpress, firefox and msword), grammar check and readability check. Try reading your work silently and aloud. Remember that how you write reflects who you are. Although sometimes mistakes can’t be avoided so but as much as possible, just check your work.
Listen to your readers
You can’t claim that everything you write is true and correct. Sometimes, your readers can leave a comment about something that they don’t agree with or don’t understand. Don’t say, “n00b! loser!” but try to read their comments and react to it in a nice way even if it is negative. However, not all comments are useful, you may delete those comments have nothing in them but insults and advertising to their blogs (spam).
I hope these tips have helped you in some way. Try to think of these when you are writing something. I admit, I lack pictures in my entries because I’m lazy. hehe