English Yacs handbook Content management

How to write effectively for the web

The Web is the first truly interactive mass medium, and writing for it requires a different approach to writing printed documents. The key thing to remember is that web readers are not passive -- they actively look for content.

[title]Key facts about writing for the web[/title] [*] Text on screens is read 25% slower than text from paper

[*] Users spend 90% of their time online looking at favourite sites only 10% is spent exploring new ones

[*] This means you should write at least 50% less than you would for other mediums

[*] All information within your site should be accessible within a maximum of three mouse clicks

[*] A site map or navigation should be seen from all pages so users know where they are and how to move quickly to other areas of the site

[*] Scrolling down should be limited to no more than three vertical screens

[*] Pages should NOT exceed more than 40K

[*] All pages should allow visitors to go back to the main part of your site and to the homepage

[*] Menus should not exceed 12 items

[title]Scannability[/title]

79% of web readers scan pages therefore use the following principles:

[subtitle]Be concise[/subtitle] [*] Keep it short and to the point. Readers will just scan the text for keywords, so you should ensure you frequently use highlighted words

[*] Dont use blue text this should be for hyperlinks only

[*] Dont highlight whole sentences just up to a maximum of the three key words

[*] Ensure that you write in a way which gets the information to the readers in the quickest way

[*] Use bullets and links wherever possible to break up the text

[subtitle]Be objective[/subtitle] [*] Remove adjectives and buzzwords, as readers scan the pages they are not looking for marketing speak. Promotional writing will not work for the web as it does for other media

[*] Studies have proved that using objective text significantly increases usability

[title]Inverted Pyramid Style[/title]

Journalists write news stories in a way that works very well for the web. They key point here is to start with the conclusion and state the facts in order of importance. As explained above, users will scan the page for information and not scroll down long chunks of text so using this style will ensure the key information is always read.

[*] Start with the conclusion

[*] Follow with the most important supporting information

[*] End by giving the background information