All Annotations of Writing for the Web[Preview]

saved by50 people, first byAaron R Fulkerson on 2006-03-02, last bynetfoad netfoad on 2008-08-08

• Research on how users read on the Web and how authors should write their Web pages.
• Writing for the Web

• Writing for the Web

  
  
  Research on how users read on the Web and how authors should write their Web pages.
  

  
  

  
  
  • Short summary of the original findings: How users
    read on the Web [read this one first]
    
  • How little do users read? — users spend 4.4 seconds for every extra 100 words on a page
    
  • F-shaped pattern for reading web content, as seen in eyetracking studies
    
  • Eyetracking of people reading email newsletters
    
  • Low-literacy users exhibit different behaviors
    
  • PR and press releases on corporate websites (75 design guidelines based on usability studies of how journalists visit company sites)
    
  • Writing style for print vs. Web
    
  • Blah-blah text: Keep, cut, or kill?
    
  • Email newsletters (165 design guidelines: scannability even more important than for websites)
    
  • Writing transactional email and confirmation messages
    
  • Teenagers on the Web: poor reading skills and low patience levels mean that text has to be ultra-concise for teens and that more information must be communicated in images
    
  • Tagline blues: what's the site about?
    
  • Passive voice is redeemed for Web headings
    
  • Use old keywords when writing to be found by search users
    
  • Show numbers as numerals when writing for online readers
    
  • Microcontent:
    writing headlines, page titles, and email subject lines
    
  • Company name first in microcontent? Sometimes!
    
  • Long vs. short articles as content strategy
    
  • how to
    write inverted pyramids in cyberspace
    
  • Information pollution
    
  • Intranet usability, including guidelines for intranet content, news on intranets, HR manuals, and how to present information about projects, teams, and individuals on intranets
    
  • Full paper documenting the original research from 1997 (long): Concise, SCANNABLE, and Objective: How to Write
    for the Web (unfortunately this paper was written for print and not
    online)
    
  • Case study: Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages improved usability by 159% when rewriting sample pages from a popular website
    
    

• on 2007-01-07 Jackiewill
  How to create a web page your readers will enjoy reading.