Technical Writing - Theory

2. Theory

The understanding of written text depends on three distinct components:

• Legibility

• Readability

• Comprehensibility

The first of these components is of no concern to us, as it is a responsibility of the lay outers and typesetters putting our writing into its final form.

The second of these we will deal with, as it is vital to having the reader actually read our document, hopefully in full.

And lastly, the third component is essential to ensure that our reader will understand the purpose of our writing.

These two components will be discussed in separate sections, even though some of the issues raised may be pertinent to both.

In addition, we will also look at issues of style — some of writing’s do’s and don’ts , as even the prose of technical writing does not have to be equivalent to a blunt axe when it might be an instrument of precision.