Writing for the Web


Readings

lh.gif pp 143-151, Chapter on EDITORIAL STYLE. [Others would disagree with Lynch & Horton about opening new browser windows].

The Scent of Information (Wired) - Scientists find that the mathematical models used for animals searching for prey work well to describe humans looking for stuff on the Web.

Writing for the Web, sections 1,3,5.

Scanning vs Reading

F-shaped scanning pattern from eye-tracking studies

The majority (J.N. claims 79% in 1997) of users scan web pages rather than reading word-by-word. Why?

Eye-tracking studies report a typical 'F' pattern: Once across the top of the page, down the left side, then reading in to the right perhaps once more.

Writing to be scanned

Nielsen's 1997 study How users read on the web recommends...

Examples

Writing titles

"Microcontent"

Titles, headlines, and e-mail subject lines must carry a heavy burden on the Internet. They must often represent a web page with little or no supporting context. There are many situations where your web page is competing for attention with other pages, and only the title does battle:


The point is not to write something bombastic to grab the spotlight, but to honestly point out what is most unique.

A very concrete suggestion that comes out of this is that you should write <title> content that starts with what is unique to the page, and moves to the more general. Compare:

Compare:




Use e-mail like text-messaging: See if you can write an e-mail message in the next few days where the subject line communicates everything that needs to be said, and your recipient doesn't even need to open your e-mail!




Writing structure


The inverted pyramid writing style (typical also of print news--see for example the LA Times) is generally acknowledged as most appropriate for scanning:

But, a counter-example, "Three Little Words" illustrates a successful break with inverted pyramids (though it does follow many of the other recommendations for on-line writing--most prominently breaking a long piece into many, smaller web pages), suggesting that content is still more important than style.

Writing for the ages, not the moment

Jakob Nielsen finds that more than 80% of the pageviews for his columns at useit.com occur after they've entered his archives. Remember that often, people find your page through a search engine, and this may be months (or years) after your content has been published. You may need to adapt your writing style appropriately.

And of course, you should assume that future employers may google you and stumble upon anything you've ever written online :->.



E-mail

E-mail is not exactly the topic of this course, but in light of the dangers of e-mail it might be worth pointing out the book "Send: The Essential Guide to Email....", by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe. The authors recommend that...

Style tips

From the Associated Press Stylebook and Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age (ouch, start reminding Paul when he violates these...)