LET'S COMMUNICATE
Agriculture Communication Newsletter 
August 2002, No. 80

CONTENTS 

WRITE THE RIGHT WORD 
STRICTLY PERSONAL 
NEW MANAGEMENT 
IS YOUR WEB PAGE ADA COMPLIANT?

WRITE THE RIGHT WORD

"Language is the roadmap of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going."--Rita Mae Brown

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Spotted in a front page story in a nearby newspaper: "The Cass County Jail is modeled after a jail in St. Louis County (Duluth), Minn., and Dodge County (Juneau), Wis." Think about it. A jail located not only in two counties (and cities) but two states. Must be one BIG jail. It would be clearer to say "...modeled after JAILS in..." In context no one is likely to misunderstand this, but you can see that this kind of construction could easily cause problems.

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A good piece of advice noted recently: "Never use utilize when you can utilize use." There is widespread belief that writers say "utilize" only because it sounds snootier than "use" and that there is never a good reason for it. In most cases that appears to be true, but there are subtle differences between the two words. "Use" refers to performing an action with the aid of something--a tool, a concept, a procedure or whatever. "Utilize" actually means to make useful, or to find a use for. "We used the new system to manage the budget." "We utilized the new system in many ways." In general, however, the advice stands: "use" is preferable to "utilize."

STRICTLY PERSONAL

As you can note above, this is issue No. 80 of Let's Communicate. Your Humble Correspondent picked up the reins (or pen or whatever) for issue No. 8, in August 1996. This will be my last issue. In fact, clicking the "send" button will probably be the last productive act I perform for Agriculture Communication. This is my last day here as I retire, and I intend to spend the rest of it wandering around the department annoying people by telling them about how we used to do things back in '72 and packing up some personal belongings.

Patty Hetland was the original Let's Communicate editor. When she left I, for reasons totally unknown to me, got the job. Wasn't too excited about it, to tell the truth. But, I thought, it should only be a few more months before it follows the usual newsletter fate and dies from lack of interest.

It was six years ago today that I suddenly realized it was deadline day. I had to create a newsletter issue, quickly. For some reason I was thinking about spellcheckers and how they don't rescue writers from bad word usage. Yes, the word is spelled right but is it the right word? So, I titled the first item "Write the Right Word." Seventy-two issues later, I'm still using it.

I was in for some big surprises. First, I actually got responses from readers with comments and questions. Then, after a few issues, I realized I was really having fun with this. I've tried to provide you with some bits and pieces that might improve your writing and, more important, show you that better writing is as much a matter of common sense as of knowing some list of grammar "rules." And I hope I've provided a few smiles and maybe even turned you into a "Trained Professional" watcher.

You've been great. Many thanks, and keep communicating.

Gary Moran

NEW MANAGEMENT

Let's Communicate will continue under the able guidance of Becky Koch. She has been a regular contributor in her dual roles of communication and staff development.

IS YOUR WEB PAGE ADA COMPLIANT?

Those sometimes-confusing HTML codes that determine how a Web page look are not used correctly to make a page accessible to individuals with disabilities. An example of a simple code, or tag as they are called, would be the bold command <b>. This text would be bold</b> and now it is turned off.

Some commands are very important for individuals with disabilities and ADA requirements state we have to use them. Perhaps the most important command we should always include is the alternative text for all images. The ALT attribute in the image tag provides a way for you to include a text description with each image on your web page. This text is displayed when images are turned off in the user's browser or when a person with sight disabilities rolls his/her mouse over an image. Screen readers, used by blind or sight impaired users, read the ALT text when they encounter an image on a web page. The following example is for a digital image of a flower bed placed in a Web page about plant spacing:

<img src="nebb23.jpg" alt="color photo of butterfly flower bed">

Viewers who have their graphics turned off would see the caption "color photo of butterfly flower bed" instead of an empty box or a meaningless title of nebb23.jpg. Individuals who have screen readers would hear that caption when the page reader reached the graphic.

It is easy to provide alternative text for graphics when using FrontPage. Right click on the image, select picture properties and enter a description of the graphic in the alternative representations text box.

There are many other considerations for developing a Web page that is ADA compliant. A very important one is to use a very light background (we recommend white) and dark text (we recommend black). Individuals with visual disabilities need a sharp contrast between text and the background to be able to read it.

See our computer support page at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/agcomm/comphelp.htm  and the Land Grant Training Alliance Web Site Accessability lesson at http://www.lgta.org/  for additional information on how to develop Web pages that are ADA compliant.

Dave Rice, NDSU Ag Webmaster