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Re: URL's for writing for the web

for

From: Patrick Lauke
Date: Feb 16, 2007 6:20AM

> Christian Heilmann

> I got an older presentation on that, check out the PDF for
> some inspiration:
>
> http://icant.co.uk/articles/writing_for_web.pdf

See, that's what I mean...



"Web surfers are not followers, they are doers. Much like TV spectators during an ad break."

"The web is probably the fastest of all media - anything that demands
too much attention to details from readers is too slow and not worth
the effort."


A generalisation...depends on context, on the user's expectations, etc.
For instance, I can quite happily read a lengthy, yet well written wikipedia entry, if I'm interested in the subject. This would, of course, be different if I came to that entry looking for one specific fact...then I'd get frustrated if I couldn't find it right away.
Just be mindful of context...otherwise it's a slippery slope towards other generalisations like "every page is only maximum 2 clicks away from the homepage" or "users can't cope with more than 7 +/- 2 links in the navigation"...



"Hardly any web surfer has one browser instance open and no other distractions"

"...time still appears to be money"

"Instead of reading whole texts, readers on the web tend to "scan" pages; looking for keywords."

"Text for the web needs to be simple, straight to the point and easy to understand - even outside the current context"

"Deal with one topic in each paragraph, don't change the subject within the paragraph"

"Don't be too creative - web users don't like guessing what you mean."

"Expln abrvtns & acrnms, especially TLAs"


Same thing happens with newspapers, magazines, leaflets, etc...so not specifically a web problem. As I said, this is a "good writing" list for any medium, not just the web. Unless we're dealing with fiction/literature, these rules are good for any sort of non-fiction/marketing/informational copy.

P