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I recently gave a presentation to the other writers in my department on writing for the web. As our web site grows, we are working to share the writing responsibility more. Here is a list of my ideas on how to write effectively for the web.
| Follow these rules | Break these rules | Headings | Brochureware |
| Measure content | Staying in context | Who’s in charge? | Why they come |
| How long they stay | Reproducing documents | Interactivity | Organization |
Always forecast. In fact, forecasting has never been more critical. In the first screen the reader sees, if you name the topics you will cover, you can link to them so the reader can instantly choose what is of interest. Think "I can always say more later."
Use lists, too, wherever they are appropriate to help the reader find the information he or she is seeking. Think of a visiting a web site as being on a treasure hunt. Your visitor has in mind something and comes with a totally unique set of experiences and interests. To help each visitor find her way around your site means that you will leave blatant clues all over the site. You don’t know – and may never know exactly – what your visitor is seeking. So you show her where everything is and let her determine what she reads in what order.
You don’t have to write for the 8th grade level anymore. This is one of the amazing things about writing for the web. You can use as big of a word or as complicated a concept as you want – but just remember this, whenever you do, you’ll provide a link to a definition or larger explanation. You always have the opportunity to offer more background information, just as long as you allow your reader to choose it or skip it. Think of these links as optional footnotes.
Transitions aren’t as important because information may be read in any order.
Write in order of importance. In writing for print, I had been taught to write the most important information first and the second most important information last because research had shown that readers remember best what they read first and last. In writing for the web, you will usually want to write in descending order so that the most important is at the top of the list and the least important is last. This is in case your list is longer than one screen, your reader will be more likely to see the most important. Also, in reading print, some readers will often read what’s first and last to see whether they want to read the middle. But they can’t do this on your web site because they don’t know what’s last.
Use more than for print. Break up text with descriptive headings. General rule of thumb: No more than two screens without headings. The more the better, because the second one may be the one your reader is looking for and if it’s on the first screen he can go right to it.
All headings should be clear and unambiguous. This is no time to be cute or obtuse. Always describe accurately what will be in the sections or paragraphs following.
There is a place for brochureware. You will often hear this term referred to derogatively among people who write and design for the web. But, do not be mislead about the value of brochureware. Studies continue to show that the main reason people use the web is to do research on companies and products and compare offerings. Brochureware can still meet a need.
In screens, not pages. Forget whatever you currently use to judge the length of a document. Your writing is now measured by how many times a visitor has to page down. And yet, if your reader finds the material a fascinating read, she will scroll down effortlessly and the number of times she has to scroll down will not be a problem.
The trouble with tables. If you’re wanting to include a table, you’ll want to test whether it all fits into a screen. It may not be as easy to read if it doesn’t.
Know thy web site. You will need to have a good understanding of the complete web site so you know best where your piece fits in and what else may need to link to it. Find out what else on the site is related to what you’re writing.
Not you. You have stepped out of the linear world. The reader is now in charge of what he reads and in what order. All of your assumptions about what your reader will read and in what order should be called into question. This means that you will write self-contained chunks of information that are linked to each other in such a way that the reader’s needs and preferences can determine the order he reads. As you use the web more yourself, you will learn to respect this process more – although as the writer, you may not always like it.
Research is coming slowly. In the next few years, we will see more and more research on how people use the web, and in particular, how they read on the web. Then we’ll be able to use the research to guide our writing. At one seminar I attended recently, when I asked them why they had cited so many sources that were 10 years and older, they said, "how people read hasn’t changed, people still read from left to right." I don’t believe this. On a web site, people read what catches their attention, and, as I said, what catches their attention is based on their unique experience and interest -- what’s hot in their lives at that particular moment. This means we have to accept that we cannot predict what visitors will read.
We may not know. Visitors may come to our web site for any of the following reasons:
Longer isn’t always better. We used to assume the longer the visitor stayed, the better for us. But, that’s not true. According to one of our resident research experts who has looked at research on the length of time people stay at web sites, people generally stay five to 12 minutes for a marketing web site. If they stay longer, it may mean they are confused. If they stay shorter, you may be getting people who didn’t intend to come to your site or who are not finding your material relevant. The length of time people stay on shopping web sites (like amazon.com, for example) are different. They may be much longer, but they aren’t comparable.
Yes, it is allowed. There are perfectly legitimate reasons to simply reproduce long passages of text without following any of the other rules of writing on the web. You may need to offer a document in its original form – perhaps for legal or informational reasons.
My definition: the content (what the reader gets) is determined by something the reader does (like clicking on a button, filling in a blank, typing a word into a search engine, answering yes to a question).
To write interactively for the web often means that you write a question. The answer to that question will then determine what the reader sees next. You no longer have to write, "If you’re under age 40, then Y is true..." and "If you’re over age 41, then X is true." You can ask age, then show only what’s true for that age.
Participation is key. Writing interactively means that you get the reader to participate by making decisions along the way, having her complete a quiz or a calculators, etc.
Good organization is critical to the success of a web site. The sooner the visitor can figure out how the site is structured and where to go to find the answer to her treasure hunt, the better. Effective, logical organization on a web site is more critical than in a printed piece. Because with a printed piece, you can always page through and skim it. You can’t do that on a web site if you can’t figure out the structure.
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