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Writing for the Web
Creating content that works
Brett Essler
Web Publications Editor
College Relations
Buffalo State College
Know your audience(s)
• Who is your audience?
– Future students
– Alumni
– Media
– Accrediting body
– Internal
• Eighty percent of your visitors want to complete
three to four tasks. Identify those tasks.
Know your audience(s)
• Use voice, tone, and language your audience
expects and understands
• Avoid jargon or institution-speak
– Acronyms
– Internal terms
Purpose and Audience Statement
The “Purpose and Audience Statement” is a
simple statement that says:
1. Why you are putting up this Web site?
2. Who you are putting it up for?
How Web users view your site
• Scanning – picking out key words or phrases
• Reading speed – 25 percent slower on Web than
print
• “Don’t make me read” – write 50 percent less
text than you would in print
How Web users view your site
•“Every new visitor is lost”– if they can’t find what
they want right away they will leave
– Navigation
– Descriptive page names and headings
– Entry page may not be home
•Users don’t scroll (so keep it short)
Scannable text
• Put important key terms where readers look first
– top of the page, headings, etc.
• Bold keywords (use sparingly or they lose desired
effect)
Scannable text
• Make headings and subheadings clear,
meaningful, consistent, and descriptive – titles
should survive out of context
• Use bulleted lists – allows for skimming
Chunking
• Make paragraphs short and meaningful
• Divide paragraphs into precise segments or
“chunks”
• Two-three lines per paragraph
• Three-four paragraphs per page – most users do
not want to scroll below the visible portion of the
page
Chunking
Short
One
Large
Focused
Paragraph
Chunks
Chunking (continued)
Chunked text
Inverted pyramid
• Used in newspaper
stories
• Most important
information first (frontloading) and above the
fold
• “Start with the
conclusion”
• Assists in scanning –
user decides if this is the
page they want
Image: © Poynter Online
Inverted pyramid in action!
Cutting that 50 percent
• Remove irrelevant, unnecessary, or redundant
information
• Short and succinct – cut sentences and words
that don’t address user needs
Cutting that 50 percent
• Link to sub-pages to explain concepts in more
depth (history, information pertinent to only
small fraction of audience, etc.)
• Avoid jargon, acronyms, and institutional-speak
• Pitfall: Over-editing and losing meaning
Omitting needless words
“Getting rid of all those words no one is going to
read”:
• Happy talk (“Welcome to...”; “Hello!”)
• Instructions – keep them simple and useful
• Marketing fluff and hyperbole
Cutting text: A meditation
Practice moving your awareness up each leg, starting with
your toes, then going on to extend your consciousness
to the entire foot, gradually moving up to the ankle, and,
over time, up the leg. Concentrate for a moment on the
knee, and then go up the rest of the leg, being aware of
your entire thigh.
56 words
From: Price, Jonathan and Lisa Price. Hot Text: Web Writing That Works. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2002. Page 93.
Cutting text: A meditation
Sense your toes, feet, ankles, calves, knees, and
thighs.
9 words
From: Price, Jonathan and Lisa Price. Hot Text: Web Writing That Works. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2002. Page 93.
Omitting needless words
Result :
• Decrease page length
• Make useful content more visible
• Reduce “noise level”
Writing effectively
•Use active voice
•Avoid first person
•Put related information together
•Avoid complex sentences
Writing to be found
• Spiders and crawlers, such as Google, search by
keywords and phrases
• Include descriptive, searchable language in your
text chunks, headings, titles, and link text
• Use consistent terms throughout site:
– User may land at page other than your home page
– Spiders looks for matches in text
Writing to be found (continued)
Descriptive
heading
Writing to be found
Descriptive
heading
Key words
Using links
• Make it clear what user will get from a link
– Ex. Using the Template System (PDF, 708KB)
• Link title should match target
• Avoid using too many links in running text
• “Use links, don’t talk about them”
– The link should be The Name of the Target, not Click
here, Point your browser, etc.
Putting it all together: An example
Key words in text
Hyperlinks in text
Key words + Hyperlinks + Chunking
Key words + Hyperlinks +
Chunking + Inverted pyramid
Finding content
• Brochures and newsletters
• Fact sheets
• Forms and applications
• Academic bridge pages
• News stories/press releases
• Event calendar
• Handbooks and policies
• Any information you would disseminate over the
phone, e-mails, etc.
Finding content
• Links are your friends
– Campus maps
– Directions
– Event and academic calendars
– Course catalog information
– Campus resources and offices
• An example: Social Work Department
Web standards
Web Publishing Standards solidify Buffalo State’s Web
presence by increasing connectivity among
departments, offices, and academic centers and by
unifying the college’s official pages
Includes:
• Best Practices
• Consistency
• Current content
• Accessibility
• Editorial style
Best practices
• Fonts (12 pt., black text on white background)
• Colors (from suggested palette)
• Background images and other graphics (file size,
placement, etc.)
• Content (up-to-date, scannable, etc.)
• Architecture
– Lowercase file names
– No underscores ( “_”) or spaces in file names
Editorial Style Guide
Unifies written communication across campus:
• Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and
capitalization, academic titles, buildings, etc.
• Incorporates Chicago Manual of Style, MerriamWebster’s Collegiate Dictionary, The Associated
Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, and The
Elements of Style
• Buffalo State College Editorial Style Guide
Editorial Style Guide
Some examples:
President Howard; Muriel A. Howard, president of Buffalo State
College; the provost; Judith A. Smith, professor of fine arts;
Professor Smith; Harold Chasen, associate professor, Psychology
Department; associate professor of music Michael Timmins.
academic degrees—Use capital letters with periods: A.A.S., B.A.,
B.S., Ed.D., J.D., M.A., M.B.A., M.F.A., M.L.S., M.S., Ph.D., etc.;
lowercase when spelled out: associate's degree, bachelor's
degree, bachelor of arts degree, bachelor of science degree,
master's degree, master of fine arts degree.
An overview: What is good content?
• Good Content Is Timely
– News, events, announcements
– Time-sensitive information requires upkeep!
• Good Content Is Informative
– Service information, course information, who we are, what we do
• Good Content Facilitates Contact
– Where, how, directions, contact us in X number of ways (the more the
better)
• Good Content Makes Life Easier for the User
– Forms, file downloads, schedules, other features that draw users to your
site
An overview: Quick tips to remember
• Break up blobs
• Keep lists short
• Know your users’ goals and tasks
• Avoid institution-speak (the disease of familiarity)
© 2005 Thom Haller
An overview: Focusing content
© 2005 Thom Haller
College Relations Web Team
• What we do:
– Templates and content management
– Content development
– Special features (calendars, photo galleries,
message boards, podcasting, and much more!)
– Home page content (proud points, spotlights,
banners, campus calendar)
Contact us!
Brett E. Essler
Web Publications Editor
(716) 878-4201
Campus Address: Cleveland Hall 307
[email protected]
www.buffalostate.edu/collegerelations
References
Fry, Don. “Unmuddling Middles.” Poynter Online. June 16, 2004.
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=67169.
Haller, Thom. “Structuring Information With the User in Mind: Helping Users GAIN.” Presentation from Web
Communications and Strategies Conference, Salisbury, Maryland. July 18, 2005. Available from:
http://www.thomhaller.com/speaking/salisbury.html.
Krug, Steve. Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders, 2000.
Nielsen, Jakob. “How Users Read on the Web.” Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox. October 1, 1997.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html.
Nielsen, Jakob. “Inverted Pyramids in Cyberspace.” Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox. June 1996.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9606.html.
Price, Jonathan and Lisa Price. Hot Text: Web Writing That Works. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2002.
Usborne, Nick. Writing for the Web #1: Seven Challenges every Writer and Copywriter faces when writing for the Web .
2005. PDF, downloaded from http://www.excessvoice.com/.
“Writing for the Web.” Web Teaching Articles. September 8, 2003.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles.text.html.