This post was written in advance as I’m currently on vacation in Philippines. As such, I will most likely be unable to reply to any comments, emails or IMs during this period - including those on this post. Thanks for understanding.

If there’s any question that’s been weighing on my mind when writing the Using WordPress (WP) as a CMS series, it’s been this question. When writing guides/tutorials, and especially those of the technical variety, there’s always a temptation to write either too tersely (brief and to the point) or too verbosely (long-winded). In my case, this means there’s a choice between writing a guide that’s just right for my more experienced readers, and one that’s understandable even by those who’ve just entered the WP world.

I could have written Part 2 of WP as a Portfolio in 400 words. It would perhaps have been:

• Less Time Consuming to Write
  Okay, no perhaps here. It’s quite obvious that if you know your stuff, writing a 400 word text takes less time compared to writing a 2000 word text.
• More Direct
  Like all posts, short guides usually seem more direct than long ones - even if you use all the standard signposting tricks (e.g. bold and italic main points, use lists, etc.).
• More “Technical”
  Given the lack of elaboration for the layman, all the jargon-filled instructions will often look more technical than they should be. You’ll score mad props if your audience are as tech-savvy as you are, but if not…

But I ended up with a 2000+ word post. It often has one key benefit though:

• Easier to Understand
  While a 400-word guide may be more direct, it may be difficult for beginners to understand. Elaborating for the sake of less experienced readers may result it a long-winded article, but you’ll get emails thanking you for your easy-to-understand “How To”.

Some writers/bloggers have the knack of getting it just right - not too terse or too verbose. But I’m not one of them. You might even have noticed that I actually lean towards the verbose camp.

That’s why I’ve introduced Method Overviews on my technical “How Tos”. These serve as terse summaries of my verbose Step-by-Step Instructions, and are usually enough for more experienced readers. And if they are not, then the detailed instructions come to the rescue.

So, do you face the same question when writing guides/tutorials? And if so, do you take any steps to mitigate the problems introduced by your choice of approach?

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