My diffiulty with proposals such as the one described here - which recommends a set of writing standards to ensure that web content is accessible to all - is that what they understand to be "simple" are not simple at all. "For example," say the guidelines, "the simplest sentence-form for English consists of Subject-Verb-Object, as in John hit the ball or The Web site conforms to WCAG 2.0." Really? How about this? "First, he went to the pub. Then he ate dinner at the restaurant. Finally, John hit the ball." Simple? Hardly. Clear writing has very little to do with sentence structure. Otherwise the absolutely opaque "The Web site conforms to WCAG 2.0" would be understood by everyone. Clear writing have everything to do with setting context and developing ideas in a logical manner. The most common mistake in web writing, I think, is assuming your readers see things from the same perspective you do. That's a very common flaw in web and internet technology help documents.
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