Nancy DuVergne Smith Thoughts in Progress on Writing for the Web

Great writing gravitates between universal ideas and particular circumstances. So, too, a good web site builds on the universals of good writing - clarity, concision, and content - to create a distinct message.

The web reader, like a traveler, enjoys smooth motion, regular nourishment, comfort stations, and the challenge of the new.

Shaping words for the web's opportunities and limitations will boost your site's efficiency. Readers should be able to understand initial messages in seconds, follow their intellectual curiosity fluidly, and find more intriguing material in the depths and curves of the site. The invitation into a web site should be vivid and mark clear pathways to the next choices. The web reader, like a traveler, enjoys efficient motion, regular nourishment, comfort stations, and the challenge of the new. This brief guide compares web writing to broadcast writing, a style developed to compensate for the loss of the visual imprint of words. Television viewers understand only about one-third of news stories because ideas are not reinforced by reading, studies show. Broadcast writing tries to overcome this limitation by simplifying and clarifying the message. The web offers images of both words and graphics, but the task of reading on screen shapes - and perhaps shortens - exposure. Writing for the web means compensating for the limitations of screen-based messages and capitalizing on the unbounded scope of presentation.

Dense prose murders a web site.

Adapting from print documents: Many sites are built from documents created for print publications. Printing costs have not insured that documents are concise, alas, so the transition to the web is an opportunity to cut the fat. Organizations and businesses may be willing to ditch some official prose since slimmer web documents will boost readership. Dense prose murders a web site. About Rules: I value creativity above rules, yet guidelines do provide a basis for understanding among diverse readers. Without some rules we're left wallowing in our eccentricities. My advice is to break any rule when you have a better way to do it, just don't break all the rules. These broadcast writing principles may be useful as you adapt existing texts and create new ones: Be concise. The overall length of a radio or TV broadcast story is about one-third the length of a print article. Cut every word that doesn't contribute. Paragraphs are two - five sentences long. Web paragraphs may be longer, but use paragraph breaks to refresh the eye. Sentence pattern: Subject-Verb-Object. You have more latitude on the web, but keep structures simple so ideas are easy to digest. One idea per sentence; one breath per idea. Sentences should usually fall within the 17-word print average. Use present or present perfect tense, if possible. The web is immediacy: use this asset to keep your text fresh. For clarity, use short, familiar words. "Record profits" is better than "unprecedented increase." Verb engines propel sentences. "She rammed the wall" rather than "she hit" uses the connotation as well as the denotion Focus on the big picture. Broadcast news omits most detail, but web documents may unfold details and complexity on interior pages. Use logic links. In broadcast, you might cite the first event, the second event, the last event. On the web, the logic links could be leitmotifs of words or images that orient the reader. Use placement. Place significant words at the end of sentences. Test your work. Read it aloud. Share it with others.

Lead economically to substance.

Web Options for Online Readablity Stage documents so a concise introductory page indicates the site's contents or self-definition then presents a branch of choices. Each choice should lead economically to substance. Clicking through page after page of obvious information or graphic fluff frustrates readers. Use text links strategically: Highlighted links can complement headers as an organic table of contents. Group links to other sites at the document's end so readers are retained and rewarded. Narrow the horizontal line length by creating columns via tables (this page) or using images (graphics or even transparent verticals) flush-left to move text over. Use graphics to underscore the content, not just for splash. Studies show that the message is lost when TV images don't reinforce spoken words. Assume readers will print hard copies of long, detailed material or resource pages. Put your URL in the document address to assure that the reader can find you again. Add your suggestions to this work in progress by emailing NancyDS@aol.com. You will be credited! Thanks!

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