Proofing 101: Boilerplate Text and When to Create It
Proofing 101 reviews simple tips for streamlining your pattern writing and editing processes.
I have two writing focused degrees and twenty years experience editing all kinds of written work, so I must enjoy writing and editing quite a bit, right? But one thing that happens when you do a lot of writing or editing work for the same company or in the same industry is that you find that you keep writing similar information over and over again. Maybe it is your mission statement as a designer, or a simple bio. Maybe it is a description of a video or resource library that you want to note on every pattern you publish for anyone who might need it. Maybe you find that you are always using the same sock heel for all your sock patterns.
You might need boilerplate text.
Boilerplate text is any text that can easily be reused without alteration in multiple documents or written material. The term “boilerplate” dates back to the days of newspaper printing presses when companies would supply pre-set columns to newspapers to fill space (wikipedia has more info ).
As an editor, the best part about a designer using boilerplate text is that it often reduces the number of errors in a piece, because as long as the text remains the same from one usage to the other, it should be correct.
When should you use boilerplate text as a knitwear designer?
For any small written sections pertaining to your design business that should remain consistent from pattern to pattern. (Your bio, contact information, brand mission, etc.)
If you have a tendency to use the same shape over and over and the math always comes out the same (this is most common with socks, housewares and accessories).
If there’s a particular stitch or technique you often have in your patterns that requires more detailed written instructions and you want to keep those instructions consistent.
If there’s information you want to include on multiple social media posts (for example, maybe every time a new pattern comes out you want the same sentence about where to purchase any of your patterns).
I prefer to manage my boilerplate text by having a master document for the type of project I’m working on. For example, for this website every blog series has its own header boilerplate where I explain what the series is and I keep those in a document that says “Blog Boilerplate” where I can copy and paste it out as needed. Some people keep their boilerplate in a Trello or Milanote board. It just needs to be somewhere you can locate it easily when you are writing, and copy and paste it straight into your new document.
I once knit a sock from a pattern where the heels and toes had almost identical instructions (it was an afterthought heel with the same number of stitches once you did the setup, so the math on the decreases were exactly the same). However, the designer had clearly just copied and pasted the toe instructions into the heel section and actually ended the heel section with “bind off the toe.” It wasn’t a pattern-ruining mistake, but I did pause to do the math on the instructions and make sure forgetting to change that one word was the only issue and that the designer hadn’t copied in the wrong instructions entirely. Which brings us to an important note about boilerplate text – it’s okay if small adjustments are needed, but you may want to set up your boilerplate document so it is easy to spot where the edit is needed. (I would have recommended for that designer that she have [HEEL/TOE] in capital letters in her boilerplate to remind her to insert the proper one.) If you find you are constantly making big edits to your boilerplate text it is either not really appropriate for boilerplate, or you might need to make permanent changes.
Do you use boilerplate text? If you do what is your preferred method for keeping track of it? Let me know in the comments!