RESOUR> [NetGold] WEB SITE DESIGN AND PROMOTION: CONTENT : WRITING AND WRITERS: WRITING TECHNIQUES: Writing for the Web

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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 10:38:02 -0500 (EST)
From: David P. Dillard <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: NetGold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: NetGold <NetGold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [NetGold] WEB SITE DESIGN AND PROMOTION: CONTENT : WRITING AND
    WRITERS: WRITING TECHNIQUES: Writing for the Web

WEB SITE DESIGN AND PROMOTION: CONTENT : WRITING AND WRITERS: WRITING
TECHNIQUES: Writing for the Web

useit.com /  Papers and Essays /  Writing for the Web
<http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/>

The content on this page is brief, but not to worry as a substantial part
of this content consists of links to valuable resources regarding this
topic including these links at the top of the page for the more
substantial documents behind this page's content:

Short summary of the findings: How users read on the Web [read this one
first]
"Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for October 1, 1997:
How Users Read on the Web
They don't."
<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html>

Full paper (long): Concise, SCANNABLE, and Objective: How to Write for the
Web (unfortunately this paper was written for print and not online)
<http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html>

Case study: Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages improved usability by
159% when rewriting sample pages from a popular website
<http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/rewriting.html>

Detailed study materials, including downloadable page files, tasks, and
questionnaires (only useful if you want to replicate our experiments or
conduct new studies in the area of reading and writing on the Web)
<http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/studyfiles/>
The following files are available:
Five different writing styles used to present the same information (note:
you can also download all five versions, including all pages and
illustrations, as a single 141K ZIP file):
Promotional writing style (the control condition in the study)
Concise writing style (50% word count of the control condition)
Scannable writing style
Objective writing style
Combined style (concise, objective, and objective in a single site)
Questionnaire 1, given to the users after they had performed the first two
        directed tasks
Questionnaire 2, given to the users after they had performed an additional
judgment task

------------------------------

One of the links on the above web page is to a Sun Microsystems web
writing guide:

Writing for the Web
<http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/>

You can double the usability of your web site by following these
guidelines: for two sample sites studied in Sun's Science Office, we
improved measured usability by 159% and 124% by rewriting the content
according to the guidelines.

Writing for the Web is very different from writing for print:

79% of users scan the page instead of reading word-for-word
Reading from computer screens is 25% slower than from paper
Web content should have 50% of the word count of its paper equivalent
Table of Contents

Difference Between Paper and Online Presentation: Limit scrolling; use
simple sentence structure; avoid cute headlines; update facts frequently.

Working With a Designer: Combine page templates with professional artwork.
Scannability: Highlight keywords; use bulleted lists; start with the
conclusion.

Navigation: Move detailed info to secondary pages.

Writing to Be Read: Headlines and subheads; lists, captions, and
hyperlinks.

Writing to Be Found: Half of the users will navigate through search
engines.

Terms to Avoid: Don't call attention to web artifacts.

Editorial Review of Web Pages: Fresh eyes and skilled editing improve your
work.

Web Facts: Significant improvements in all metrics.

------------------------------

Another quality resource cited in this document regards writing for the
intranet:

www.gooddocuments.com
How to write for the INTRAnet
<http://www.gooddocuments.com/homepage/homepage.htm>

and still another is an Article on Web Writing for Many Interest Levels.

Web Writing for Many Interest Levels
by Nathan Wallace (May 18, 1999)
<http://www.e-gineer.com/articles/web-writing-for-many-interest-levels.phtml>

Also of value for the website designer are these Educational
Cyberplayground pages.

Interesting Web Sites PAGE 1
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Internet/INTERESTINGSITES/Interesting_Web_Sites.html>

My wonderful *HOT TECHNOLOGY TIPS*
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/tips2.html>

My wonderful *HOT TECHNOLOGY TIPS*
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/tips3.html>


Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetGold/>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
<http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html>

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