| Introduction
Comparing pages &
screens
Recognizing elements
of effective screen design
Writing prose to suit
the Web
Organizing multiple
pages
Writing faster
Additional Resources |
In addition to making each Web
page look readable (thereby inviting scanning
and perhaps gaining a little more patience on your reader's part) you should
make the prose readable as well. This page presents several tips
to help readability.
Write like a journalist
Several lessons from journalism
make sense when writing for the Web:
-
Journalists use short paragraphs, usually
devoting only one idea per paragraph. If you're adapting print-based
text to the Web, get in the habit of breaking longer paragraphs into smaller
ones.
-
Journalists begin with the main point.
Start each page with your conclusion--with the main thing you want a reader
to know--then offer detail.
-
Journalists think in terms of headines
and headings. Use descriptive headings to preview the organization
of each page.
Present lists when you can
Use bulleted lists to conveys sets of
information. Use numbered lists when describing a set of steps or
a hierarchy. (Warning: Do not overload a page with lists.
A few lists help divide a page visually and let readers see related chunks
of information; too many lists make a page look cluttered.)
Forecast information
Every page, and every list, should
be preceded by a statement telling the reader what's to come. Readers
should be able to tell right away what a page or list is about.
Become concise
The fewer words the better, which
is why time-honored stylistic guidelines still apply. Consider William
Strunk's (1918)
advice to
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