Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  Much ado about sex and Web sites - or why it's still important to know who your users are (01 Sep 2005) Moss and colleagues, like Tannen before (2001), observe that there are gender differences in the way we use language – women are more conversational and informal whereas men are more self-promoting and use more "expert" language. This observed disparity may have implications for designing content to establish and build trust between an organization and its target consumer group. In short, to be effective, the language of the message must reflect the aesthetic of the target consumer group. If you know what the target consumer group is and you know what their basic aesthetic is, you can design for that group independent of your gender. Article URL: http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/aug05.asp Read 44 more articles from Human Factors International sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: The cranky user: But does it come in purple?     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy