Writing for the Web

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Writing for the Web
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Introductions

• Rick VanderKnyff
• Web manager, Blink, x22669
• A few words about

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Stuff to tell us about

• Where you work
• Do you write for the Web as part of your job now?
• Do you think of yourself as a technical person
  first and a writer second, or vice versa?
• Your favorite Web site

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Overview

• 1. How do people read on the Web?
• 2. What do we know about effective Web writing?
• 3. Group and individual exercises
• 4. Web site reviews

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How do people read on the Web?

• What the studies suggest
• 79 of users scan instead of reading each word.

• Reading from computer screens is 25 slower
  than from paper.

• Web content should have about 50 of the word
  count of its paper equivalent.

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Eyetrack 2000

• Text attracts attention
• Of users' first three eye-fixations on a page,
  only 22 were on graphics 78 were on text.

• In general, users were first drawn to headlines,
  article summaries, and captions. They often did
  not look at the images at all until the second or
  third visit to a page.

Stanford-Poynter Project, Eyetrack2000 Jakob
Nielsen, Eyetracking study of web readers
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Eyetrack 2000

• Keep headlines simple
• Users prefer straightforward headlines to those
  that are funny or cute.

• Readers generally want information, not
  entertainment.

Stanford-Poynter Project, Eyetrack2000 Jakob
Nielsen, Eyetracking study of web readers
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Eyetrack 2000

• Support both foraging and in-depth reading
• Readers are three times more likely to read a
  brief than a full article.

• Users are hunting for information. If they find
  what theyre looking for, theyll read in more
  depth.

Stanford-Poynter Project, Eyetrack2000 Jakob
Nielsen, Eyetracking study of web readers
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Context, context, context

• All decisions on design, structure and writing
  should flow from knowledge of your audience, and
  how they will use the information you present.

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Audience the big questions

• Who are they? Is there more than one audience? If
  so, should you tailor your presentation for each?

• What are they looking for?

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Assumptions about users

• They are coming to your site for information.
• Increasingly, the Web will be their primary
  source of that information.

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Point of view

• On a highly decentralized campus, each department
  is responsible for its own Web site.
• Often, the sites structure reflects the
  organizations structure.
• Information is not presented in a way thats
  logical to users.

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The solution

• Think like a user.
• Adopt the you attitude If you understand what
  your readers want and you anticipate their needs,
  your site will succeed and your readers will
  return.
• (From Writing for the Web by Crawford Kilian)

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Three principles of Web text

• (From Writing for the Web by Crawford Kilian)
• 1. Orientation
• When your readers arrive at your site, they need
  two kinds of orientation background knowledge
  about the site, and navigation aids to help then
  get around the site. So the front page of your
  site should orient readers by telling them
• What the sites about
• How its organized
• How to navigate it

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Three principles of Web text

• (From Writing for the Web by Crawford Kilian)
• 2. Information
• Two secondary principles are at work here
  clarity and correctness.
• Clarity Your text should be understandable at
  first glance. Even your expert readers deserve
  the simplest, clearest discussion you can
  provide.
• Correctness Any professional or business site
  must convey a nonverbal message of competence
  errors in language basics and errors in fact
  undercut that message.

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Three principles of Web text

• (From Writing for the Web by Crawford Kilian)
• 3. Action
• What action do you want the reader to take as a
  result of absorbing the information on your Web
  site?
• A positive attitude When you present problems,
  suggested solutions should be close at hand.
• The you attitude If you understand what your
  readers want and you anticipate their needs, your
  site will succeed and your readers will return.

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Two campus initiatives

• UCSD Identity Guidelines for the Web

• Blink

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Writing for the Web