Re:Ask HN: Writing for Americans
by JacobAldridge on Sunday March 07, 2010 @07:35AM
(#1173292)
I think if you're writing for an international audience, stick with whatever comes natural to you. I know (I'm Australian) that I use BrE spelling here on HN and around the web.
If I had to think about using AmE then two things would happen:
1) I would almost certainly miss some. If you use the word Defense ten times and spell it Defence once then it looks like a spelling error.
2) It would interrupt the flow of my writing. Anything that interrupts writing is bad. Why let the writing itself get in the way.
But of course, know your target market. I'm working on a product for the US right now, and the extra effort checking for BrE is annoying, but necessary.
If I had to think about using AmE then two things would happen: 1) I would almost certainly miss some. If you use the word Defense ten times and spell it Defence once then it looks like a spelling error. 2) It would interrupt the flow of my writing. Anything that interrupts writing is bad. Why let the writing itself get in the way.
But of course, know your target market. I'm working on a product for the US right now, and the extra effort checking for BrE is annoying, but necessary.