Writing Content for the Web

There are many things to consider when writing for the web.  You don’t need to think about fonts, colours and sizes.  You do need to think about how to make the content easily ‘scan-able’, and how to make it suitable for a wide range of users.

People read web pages slightly differently from other texts.  They tend to scan web pages quickly, rather than read them thoroughly.  Their eyes jump around, looking for the information they want.  They don’t read from top to bottom.

There are various things that can help with this:

• Don’t use large blocks of dense text.
• Lists can be very useful as long as they aren’t too long or complex.
• Try to put important things near the front of the sentence and at the beginning of the paragraph.

Headings give a clear structure to a page.  They also let people see what is coming in the next few paragraphs, and whether it will interest them.

Headings should:

• Summarise the content of that section
• Be concise
• Try not to be ‘clever’ or too witty

We also need to use simple and clear language:

• Remove 50% of your words
• Use simpler words where possible
• Don’t use complex clauses in sentences.
• Use examples where necessary

Be aware that there is a lot of jargon involved in teaching and learning.  If an acronym or piece of jargon is the best way of talking about something then use it, but try to keep it to a minimum.

People have different levels of interest in what you are writing.  Some people won’t be interested at all, some will want to read it all, most will be somewhere in between.

If people read your writing for longer than their interest level, they will become bored and frustrated.  They will then build up negative feelings towards the subject, author or website.

The different levels of interest are:

• Title
• Introductory Paragraph
• Major Points
• Minor Points
• Detailed interest
• Further Reading

When writing for the web, you need to cater for all these different levels of interest.  A good way to do this is structuring your document well.

Title

You should start with a good title.  This is what people will commonly use to link to you and it is the first thing people see when they look at your page.  It allows people who have arrived in error to quickly realise it and to leave.

Introductory Paragraph

A clear introduction that summarises what your article is about.  That will enable people who aren’t interested in it to realise this, and go somewhere else.  It also makes it easier for people to link to your article from another site using a short explanatory paragraph.

Major Points

The major points should be your headings and sub-headings.  These will give people a deeper idea of your content, and will allow people to easily find the section they need.  Tables of contents can be automatically produced from the headings on a page.

Major points should be understandable in their own right, and not be jokey or a teaser to what’s to come.

Minor Points

These should be concise sentences and bullet points.  They should cover the details of the headings.  

Detailed Interest

If people have read this far, then they have quite an interest in what you have to say and you can go into points with much more depth.

Further Reading

If people have read your detailed points and are still interested then you should provide them with some links to further reading.  This is also a good point to cite the sources of any external information you have used.

Users tend to follow links, particularly if they are interesting ones. If they are in the body of your article, readers may follow the links and not finish reading the page content.

Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on the objective of your page content:

• If a user is just looking for a link to information, and you place the links at the very end of your article, they will just be irritated at all the scrolling and scanning they have had to do.


• If it is a page giving advice on which course is right one for them, then as soon as the user has the information they need, they will want to find out more about the course. Links in the page content would then save them time.


• If the article is one where the user won’t be looking for more information unless they are very interested in the topic, then links are best at the end of the page.

Grammar and spelling are particularly important on talent.ac.uk.  This is a community with a large number of Literacy and ESOL teachers who will be critical of poor grammar and spelling.

You should put your work into Word to check the grammar and spelling, but remember that Word isn’t always right!

The Plain English Campaign has some excellent guidelines on writing clearly.

In particular are:

Keep your sentences short

Clear writing for print should have an average sentence length of around 15-20 words. Clear writing for online should have 25% less, or around 10-15 words per sentence.

Prefer active verbs

Try to use active verbs rather than passive verbs. For example:

We shall consider this shortly. (active)
This shall be considered by us shortly. (passive)

Passive verbs cause several problems. They:

• can be confusing;
• often make writing more long-winded; and
• make writing less lively.

When adding content to talent, the fonts and sizes are mostly determined by the headings, sub-headings etc of your content.

Nathan Wallace’s Web Writing for Many Interest Levels
http://www.e-gineer.com/articles/web-writing-for-many-interest-levels.phtml

Jakob Nielson’s How Users Read on the Web
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html