Guidelines for Microcontent

• Clearly explain what the article (or email) is about in terms that
  relate to the user. Microcontent should be an ultra-short abstract of its
  associated macrocontent.
  
• Written in plain language: no puns, no "cute" or
  "clever" headlines.
  
• No teasers that try to entice people to click to find
  out what the story is about.

Summary:


Introductory text on Web pages is usually too long, so users skip it. But short intros can increase usability by explaining the remaining content's purpose.

The introductory paragraph(s) found at the top of many Web pages is what I call blah-blah text: a block of words that users typically skip when they arrive at a page. Instead, their eyes go directly to more actionable content, such as product features, bulleted lists, or hypertext links.

The worst kind of blah-blah has no function; it's pure filler — platitudes, such as "Welcome to our site, we hope you will find our new and improved design helpful."

Kill the welcome mat and cut to the chase.

• What? (What will users find on this page — i.e., what's its function?)
  
• Why? (Why should they care — i.e., what's in it for them?)

For the same reason, it's usually better to write a positive statement ("do X") than a negative statement ("avoid Y"), and it's almost always horrible to use double negatives ("avoid not doing X"). Again, the simpler the translation between the text and the user's mental model, the easier the writing is to understand.

Given that users often read only a couple of words from each text element, you should reduce duplication of salient keywords.

• Don't use the same initial keywords in your headline and summary. You have 4 words to make your point, so use 4 different words.

Information Pollution

Summary:


Excessive word count and worthless details are making it harder for people to extract useful information. The more you say, the more people tune out your message.

How Users Read on the Web

People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences.

As a result, Web pages have to employ scannable text, using

• highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
  
• meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
  
• bulleted lists
  
• one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
  
• the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
  
• half the word count (or less) than conventional writing

Hypertext Structure