FIT3084: Writing for the WWW

In the previous lecture:

• Labels may be textual, iconic, or both
• Adhere to external conventions in your choice of labels
• Adhere to internal consistency in your choice of labels
• Labels should reflect the chosen organization scheme and structure

In this lecture:

• Write concisely
• Consider the differences between reading on a screen and paper
• Provide space around your text and a clear hierarchy of information

References

• Holzschlag, M.E., Web By Design: The Complete Guide, Sybex Press, 1998, pp183-190.
  
  
• Lynch, P.J. Horton, S., Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites,
  Yale University Press, 1999, Chapter 6.
  
  
• and especially...
  
  Nielsen, J., Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, New Riders Publishing, 2000, pp98-129. (Also see Nielsen's website for further information)

Apparently from an essay written by a Scottish school girl
(posted by Matthew Langham, March 3, 2003)

 From: Global.Emails@adm.monash.edu.au
 Subject: New cleaning structure
 Date: 29 June 2005 10:10:49 AM
 To: allclaytonstaff-l@monash.edu.au
 Reply-To: Arthur.Brent@adm.monash.edu.au

A message from deputy vice-chancellor and vice president (Resources) Alison Crook
------------------------------------------------------------------------

New cleaning structure

The management structure of cleaning services at the Clayton campus have
changed. From Monday 4 July, the campus will be cleaned by a mix of
internal staff and external contractors. The cleaning service will still
be managed by Arthur Brent who can be contacted on extension 54073.

Facilities and Services, along with Student and Staff Services and the
Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union have been working
with cleaning staff to discuss ongoing service provision and how it may
be managed into the future. A number of voluntary separation packages
were accepted by cleaning staff. From an end-user perspective,
initially, there should be little change in the service. Moving forward
Facilities and Services will be developing a more user focussed and
performance-driven cleaning regime across the campus.

Three important points

1. Be concise
   
   
2. Expect vistors to scan text
   
   
3. Split up text into a clear hierarchy

Be concise

• Computer screens have less dots per inch than printed pages (limited resolution)
  
  
  • People find reading on screens less comfortable than reading on paper
    
    
• People are often (not always) looking for information on the WWW, not "a good read"
  
  
  • Write so that people can find what they are looking for comfortably & quickly

Expect visitors to scan text

• People do not read lengthy, dense web pages
  
  
  • Visitors may print out a page with detailed information to read and annotate in hardcopy
    
    
• Most computer screens are narrow and short (limited size)
  
  
  • Avoid forcing users to scroll (this may be disorienting)
    
    

Helpful things to consider:

• Write less (maybe 50% less) than you would on a paper document of the same topic
  
  
• Break up lengthy texts into pages (use the principles of information architecture)
  
  

  What do you think of these examples?

  American Museum of Natural History (frog exhibition - curator) American Museum of Natural History (frog exhibition - introduction)

  
  
• Build a main page for each topic with a summary of the information provided on subpages
  
  

  What do you think of these examples?

  Aspiring Guides Petzl Tactikka Plus headlamp Black Diamond Climbing Equipment

  
  
• Avoid relying on "in-page" hyperlinks (i.e. <#A> anchors jumping to locations within the current page)
  

• People may expect a link to take them to a different page (this is their conceptual model)
  
  
• Provide clear titles, subtitles & sub-subtitles (recall the lecture on labelling)
  
  
  
  • These provide jumping-in points for people who scan
    
    

    What do you think of these examples?

    Yahoo Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao) NASA

    
    
• Highlight keywords
  
  
  • These provide jumping-in points for people who scan
    
    
  • These may be used to understand what a paragraph is about, without reading it fully
    
    
  • Distinguish these visually from hyperlinks
    
    
• Use short paragraphs
  
  
• Use lists
  
  
• Use white space to break up text
  
  
  
  • These allow the reader to keep their place on a page
    
    
  • These allow the reader to identify the key ideas on a page
    

A sample MUJI page (20 August 2004)

• Use "pull-quotes"
  
  
• Use topic sentences in your paragraphs
  
  
• Use an "inverted" style - state your conclusions up-front
  
  
  
  
  • These techniques give prominance to interesting and relevant ideas.

 

"Inverted" style From: The Guardian website, Bunting, M., Morality as Polyfilla, August 16, 2004	A "pull quote" From: Mountain Zone website, Inverarity, P., Chasing Scarves and Jumping Crevasses, Discovering Alpinism on the Massif du Mont Blanc, August 11, 2004

 

The following is adapted from the Mountain Safety Research website to illustrate the benefits of white space (paragraph breaks and lists) and highlighting keywords...

• Use language suitable for your audience, avoid jargon

  The following is adapted from Black Diamond Software website 20 Aug 2004 (judge the prose and labelling for yourself)...

• Do you think the target audience will understand this?
• Do you understand this?
• Does the text have anything significant to say?
• What do you think of the inserted quote on the left?

Check out this way cool page from Beckersurf (20 August 2004)

Note the lingo used to label the buttons, links etc.

 

Extra reading (available in the Monash Library)...

Watson, D., "Death sentence : the decay of public language", Random House Australia, 2003

An interesting phenomenon (that doesn't excuse lousy spelling...)

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a
wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer
msut be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can
sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos
not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt.

• Write concisely and clearly for your target audience
• Consider the differences between reading on a screen and paper
• Provide space around your text and a clear hierarchy of information

Courseware | Lecture notes

©Copyright Alan Dorin 2008