Be Succinct! Writing for Clarity on the Web
Content that you create for your website is critical, and the way that text is presented is equally as important.
When you had your first vision for your website, it’s likely that you thought in terms of what it would look like graphically, what colors and images would be featured. While those details are important as a means setting the tone and directing the visitor to information, without well written content, your audience will likely miss your message.
Jakob Nielsen, well known usability expert, has compiled an important set of guidelines on this topic that are clear and concise. In “Writing for the Web“, Nielsen instructs his readers to approach writing using methods that convey your message to your visitors in a way that is easily comprehended. These include:
- Write for scanning. Most visitors only read half of the information on a page.
- Carefully craft headlines, subheadings, lists and captions to catch your visitors eye.
- Place the most important information first. Web users are impatient and can easily click away if they don’t find what they are looking for quickly.
The authors of the following articles take their own advice and use clear titles. While the message is similar, the articles offer different approaches for various learning styles.
For additional information:
- Writing for the Web (general overview - Jakob Nielsen for Sun Microsystem)
- Writing for the Web (links to details on specific topics - Jakob Nielsen’s Research Articles)
- Writing for the Web (a more graphical, lighthearted approach)
- Writing for the Web (written from an academic viewpoint)
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