Web writing: keep it short and pointy

People go to the web for  fast information.

They want concise chunks information that are easy to scan, and objective.

Reading on a plastic computer screen is a different experience to  reading the printed page.  So the rules for web writing are different.

Read Tips for web writing and Reading online – what users want, to sharpen your web writing skills.

From research by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen

Tips for web writing

People use the web for information. These writing tips for you will make their search easier:

• organize your information
• use words and categories that make sense to your audience
• use topic sentences
• one idea per paragraph
• provide the right amount of information.

You can’t just throw information up there and clutter up cyberspace. Anybody who makes a website should make the effort to organize the information.

From research by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen

Web users want info fast

Users search the Web for fast information. To make this easier they want:

• text that is easy to scan
• simple, informal writing
• text that is short or broken into small chunks
• summaries and the inverted pyramid writing style,
• links to other websites,
• pictures and graphics that complement to text,
• humour

I prefer informal writing, because I like to read fast. I don’t like reading every word, and with formal writing, you have to read every word, and it slows you down

From research by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen