Rebecca's Writing Resources

Whether we are applying for jobs, taking the GED exam, developing Web sites, or working on the next Great American Novel, most of us could benefit from improving our writing skills. I've put together a few of the resources I find helpful for myself and for my students.

• Writing Resources On the Internet
• Books on Writing and Grammar
• Writing for the Internet

Maintained by Rebecca Clayton
Send me e-mail at rclayton at meer dot net
Visit my weblog, Pocahontas County Fare
Last updated Sunday, 09-Dec-2007 13:54:57 PST

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Writing Resources On the Internet

• Common Errors in English by Paul Brians, Department of English, Washington State University. The "Common Errors" section consists of a long list of hyperlinked words and phrases, with accompanying explanations and corrections. It is both a useful reference and an amusing tour of English usage. His home page is well worth browsing on many different topics.
• Crawford Kilian's Cluster of Writing Web Logs Includes Writing for the Web, Ask the English Teacher, and Writing Fiction, among others. He has a wealth of interesting and informative materials, lots of published books, and his writing is an exemplar of how to inform via the Internet.
• The Guide to Grammar and Writing offers tips, essays and quizzes on English grammar and usage. It is sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation of Hartford, CT.

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Books on Writing and Grammar

How to Write: Advice and Reflections by Richard Rhodes. 1995. This is the book I turn to when I feel like giving up. Through his careful attention to detail and respect for all types of writing, Rhodes reminds me always to aim for high quality, and to quit waiting for lofty inspiration and start working. A Pulitzer-prize winning author, Rhodes has written newsletters, novels, history of science, travel, memoirs, and psychological studies. There seems to be nothing he won't try. Random House has several of his books in print.

The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron. 1992. Ms. Cameron is by this time more an industry than an author, with many publications and programs for writers and other artists. This is the book that raised her profile to its current high status. I found the New Age rhetoric a little off-putting at first, but many people swear by this book, so I went ahead and did the twelve week course, creativity dates, affirmations, morning pages and all. It is, indeed, helpful (although I still have to hide in the closet to repeat affirmations). Cameron helped me most by encouraging me to consider my writing (and other creative endeavors) as worthwhile activities deserving my time and attention.

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Writing for the Internet

• Writing for the Web presents "research on how users read on the Web and how authors should write their Web pages." These articles are part of a collection on design for usability by Jakob Nielsen. It's interesting research, and the Web site loads quickly on my dial-up connection, just as you would expect from someone who cares about usability.
• Philip Greenspun's Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing. While instructing readers on Web page creation, Greenspun urges his readers to spend most of their time on content.

  People with limited time, money, and experience usually build fairly usable Web sites. However, there is no publishing concept so simple that money, knowledge of HTML arcana, and graphic design can't make slow, confusing, and painful for users. After you've tarted up your site with frames, graphics, and color, check the server log to see how much traffic has fallen. Then ask yourself whether you shouldn't have thought about user interface stability.

  I've taken to heart much of the advice offered in this entertaining and helpful book. In fact, I took this code (with a couple of insignificant additions) to my CSS file as well. From Chapter 5: Learn to Program HTML in 21 Minutes:

  If you can't "just say no" to formatting your documents instead of working on the content, you might want to consider developing a site-wide cascading style sheet. Here's the cascading style sheet for the online version of this book (http://philip.greenspun.com/panda/ ):

  
  body {margin-left: 3% ; margin-right: 3%}
  
  P { margin-top: 0pt; text-indent : 0.2in }
  P.stb { margin-top: 12pt }
  P.mtb { margin-top: 24pt; text-indent : 0in}
  P.ltb { margin-top: 36pt; text-indent : 0in}
  
  p.marginnote { background-color: #E0E0E0 }
  p.paperonly { background-color: #E0E0E0 }
  
  li.separate { margin-top: 12pt }
  

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  I also recommend The book behind the book behind the book... This is Greenspun's account of writing a computer book, what happened to it, and how it came to be available free on the Internet. If this doesn't jaundice your secret hopes of publishing a dead-trees book, nothing will. To my great embarrassment, I laughed out loud while sitting at the computer.

• If you find you cannot listen to Greenspun and "just say no," here are some Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) basic reference materials:
  • glish.com : CSS layout techniques. "If you are looking for help making the transition to CSS layout (that's Cascading Style Sheets), you've come to the right place. I am cataloging here as many useful cross-browser CSS layout techniques as I can find, and some that I made up when I was bored last Thursday. All the examples on this site have been reduced to only their essential code, and you will find the source displayed on each page to hopefully make it quick and easy to understand the inner workings of the CSS. Feel free to steal all the code you find on this site, and consider linking back here on your site or in your source comments."
  • CSS Panic Guide. "CSS-a guide for the unglued. This is not a complete resource, this is a fast resource. These are the sites that I refer to first, and that I tell people to read. When you want more, just about all of them have their own links to good sites."
  • W3Schools Online Web Tutorials. "THE LARGEST WEB DEVELOPER'S SITE ON THE NET: Full Web Building Tutorials - All Free. At W3Schools you will find all the Web-building tutorials you need, from basic HTML and XHTML to advanced XML, Multimedia and WAP." It's true. If it's a tutorial you want, this is the place. Really helpful!
  • HTML and CSS Tutorials, References, Articles and News - HTML Dog. "Welcome to HTML Dog, the web designer's resource for everything HTML and CSS, the most common technologies used in making web pages. If you are a beginner, the step-by-step HTML Beginner's Guide will get you started. If you are already a competent web maker, the HTML Advanced Guide and CSS Advanced Guide are the places to look for advanced tips, tricks and good practice techniques." Not as comprehensive as the W3Schools site, but what's here is quite helpful.
  • Lorelle on WordPress HTML, CSS, PHP, and More Cheat Sheets "If you are into tweaking your WordPress Theme or designing one from scratch, here are some HTML/XHTML and CSS Cheat Sheets you might want to add to your resources." This is a blogger's list of pages designed as handy hard-copy references for the novice Web designer.

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• My favorite way to learn "computer stuff" is to start with a sample (shell script, program, html page, etc.) and try to modify it to meet my needs. Once I understand what it is I need to know, I can focus better when I read that fine manual. There are many sample CSS templates available for would-be Web designers. I've tried a number of them, and these were the ones I found most helpful.
  • glish.com : CSS layout techniques
  • The Layout Reservoir - BlueRobot
  • CSS Panic Guide
  • CSS Intensivstation
• Theory and practice of good Web design: These resources offer advice on what makes good CSS design, and how it can enhance, not detract from, Web pages. They are interesting and thought provoking, and some of them offer practical tips as well.
  • Webaim--accessibility techniques and concepts. The Internet can be a fantastic resource for people with disabilities. This site will help you make sure everyone that might want to use your pages will be able to do so.
  • Free web design course - basics, layout, free tutorials, case studies, how to guide, examples (Web Design from Scratch). "Web Design from Scratch is a practical training course in web design for everyone interested in creating effective web pages. Web design is a complex discipline that involves a wide range of skills. I notice that some of the most basic skills are lacking in many web site designs. Those basic skills are quite simple, but can be hard to gain because of a lack of teaching material. That's what WDFS aims to solve!" The site is quite extensive, and I haven't finished reading every section yet, but it is interesting and insightful, and I feel I've learned a lot. There is very little "how-to," but plenty of "why."
  • css Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design. "A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design. Select any style sheet from the list to load it into this page." It's really pretty, and you can look at the style sheets to see how they do it.
  • A List Apart "For people who make websites: A List Apart Magazine (ISSN: 1534-0295) explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on techniques and benefits of designing with web standards." The writing is wonderful, the design is instructive. This is going to be a regular read for me.
  • css/edge. "css/edge is intended, first and foremost, to be as relentlessly creative with CSS as we have been practical all these years. It does not exist to present or explain safe cross-browser techniques; in fact, almost the opposite. The goal here is to find ways to make CSS live up to its fullest potential, with only minimal regard to browser limitations." While this sounds like something too esoteric for my minimalist needs, I've learned a lot from the material presented here, and the links have been very useful too.
  • useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website. This is a must-read for anyone using the Internet. He has a helpful new article on blog usability mistakes, as well.

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