How to Write Effectively for the Web
by Peter J. Patsula

The 21st century Web surfer is lazy and easily distracted. They would rather click you off their screen faster than a pop-up window, than read anything you have to say.

To make matters worse, according to John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen (1997): "Studies of how users read on the Web found that they actually do not read: instead, they scan." Experts as Sun Microsystems (1998) agree, similarly reporting that 79% of users scan the page instead of reading word-for-word.

It bears repeating: WEB SURFERS DO NOT READ!

So what's the point of learning how to write for the Web if in fact Web surfers DO NOT READ?

Well ... Web surfers do in fact read. They just read in a manner quite different from how they read printed media. This new reading style, or rather "scanning style", is a defense mechanism against information overload, to help readers sift through all the cyber garbage and find what they really want. This reading style has also evolved from the all empowering mouse click mentality. Readers never before have had so much POWER: the almighty "click." Surfers love to click. They can click and read whatever they want, how fast they want, and how much they want.

It is quite likely that Web reading will increasingly influence print reading, to the point that print reading will become more like Web reading rather than the other way around. Web writers must adapt to the new reading habits of the 21st century. If they don't, they are just a "click" away from cyber extinction.

USABLE WORDS - WRITING FOR THE WEB STRATEGIES

"Writing for the Web" involves the perfection of a writing style that makes it easy for readers to read quickly and quickly find the information most important to them. In a nutshell, to write for the Web, you must learn how to write USABLE WORDS. In the context of the Web, "usability" can be defined as all factors in the design of online materials that foster speed of access, ease of navigation and readability.

Outlined below are eight strategies to help you write READABLE USABLE WORDS.

STRATEGY 1
Write concise text.
Morkes and Nielsen (1997) found that writings for the Web scored 58% higher in measured usability when written concisely. Sun Microsystem (1998) advises that "Web content should have 50% of the word count of its paper equivalent" (1998). Kilian (1999) recommends that "no chunk of text [should] run over 75 words." He suggests to deliberately write long chunks of text from 150 to 200 words and then cut it down to 55 or 60 words to pack "the maximum meaning into the minimum [of] text."

To write concise text you must tighten the language, cut overly detailed information and find a balance between white space and natural section breaks.
Morkes and Nielsen give the following example of how to cut text:

Original
Facilities management also portend high growth. To be sure, microprocessors can be found today in electronic thermostats, intercom systems, automatic sprinkler systems, stand-alone light timers and alarm systems that themselves are linked to a central monitoring station. But picture a home network that ties all these things-and more-together into a coordinated facilities and environmental control system. ....

Rewritten
Facilities management also will rely on new devices. Electronic thermostats, intercom systems, automatic sprinkler systems and alarm systems will all be tied into a coordinated control system linked to a central monitoring system.

http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/rewriting.html

STRATEGY 2
Write scannable text.
Morkes and Nielsen (1997) found that writings for the Web scored 47% higher in usability when written to be more scannable.
To write scannable text add:

- tables of contents
- section summaries
- bullets
- numbered lists
- boldface
- colored text to highlight keywords
- additional headings
- shorter paragraphs (with well developed topic sentences).

Of course, using too much of any one of these techniques could lead to usability problems. Strike a balance between readable blocks of text and scannable chunks.

STRATEGY 3
Write objective text.
Morkes and Nielsen (1997) found that writings for the Web scored 27% higher when written in an objective style.
To write objective text:

- remove all the marketing and promotion "fluff"
- cut out useless adjectives like "great" and "overwhelming" (Killian, 1999)
- hack out buzzwords like "paradigm" and "utilize"
- castrate claims not supported by evidence.

Of course, don't hack out everything! Corporate websites may still indulge themselves with a few pats on the back.
NOTE: Morkes and Nielsen (1997) found that by writing concise, scannable and objective text resulted in 124% higher measured usability.

STRATEGY 4
Write in international English.
International English is a style that minimizes reading problems for those who read English as a second language (Horton, 2000). The advantage of using international English include easier translations, better readability on computer screens, and increased comprehension from second-language readers as well as people with reading difficulties.

STRATEGY 5
Use the active voice rather than the passive voice.
Readers are more comfortable with the active voice as it focuses attention on the author (Killian, 1999). Say: "I tested 33 subjects for Ebola fever" rather than "Thirty-three subjects were tested for Ebola fever."

STRATEGY 6
Avoid jargon and clichés.
Use plain everyday English in preference to Latin and French based text which tends to be too technical, scientific, bureaucratic and scholarly. Avoid clichés such "an ounce of prevention will save you a pound of cure" and slang such as 'kewl' for 'cool' (Killian, 1999).

STRATEGY 7
Use proper fonts.
Reading from a monitor is 25 percent slower than reading from printed paper (Sun Microsystems 1998). To help speed up reading, san serif fonts, with mixed upper-lower case are best for legibility and reading ease on the computer screen. Small text nine points and below is more readable in sans-serif typefaces such as Verdana. Serif fonts can be used for large 12-point fonts (in a 10-point serif typeface, there are simply not enough pixels available to resolve the fine detail needed for the serifs).

ALL CAPS should be avoided as body text, as users read this kind of text about 10 percent slower.

STRATEGY 8
Write for many interest levels.
"Every person has a certain level of interest in every piece of information. A writer should help each reader get their desired level of information as quickly as possible. Knowledge of and writing to these levels will increase the satisfaction of all readers" (Wallace).

In many ways, writing for the Web also revolves around common copywriting techniques; you must let the reader know right away "what's in it for them" if they read your text.

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