Transcript Webwriting - Writing for the Web

Writing for the Web:
Basic Principles
A Slide Show by
Crawford Kilian
Web Consumers
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Lookers: TV refugees
Readers: Print refugees
Users: Information grabbers
Shoppers: Online bargain hunters
Listeners: Audiophiles
Web Content Producers
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Merchants
Governments
NGOs
Schools
Advocates
“Talkers”: Self-publishers, bloggers
Communication Models
• Instrumental model:
– “Do what I say.”
• Constructivist model:
– “Is this what you want?”
Web Readers:
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Slower readers (-25%)
Skimmers and scanners
Impatient
Addicted to jolts
Text on the Computer Screen
• Low resolution = hard to read
• Author can’t control page appearance
• Print text doesn’t work except in archives
Principles of Webwriting
• Orientation
• Information
• Action
Orientation
• Where am I?
• What’s this site about?
• How do I get around it?
Orientation Elements
• Minimalism
• Coherence
• Headlines, subheads, blurbs, links
Information
• What do you have to tell me?
• Is it in a format I can use?
Information Elements: I
• Who’s your audience?
• What’s your “exformation”?
• Organization: narrative, logical,
categorical?
• Clarity
• Correctness
Information Elements: II
What’s “Exformation”?
• Information left out of the message because
the recipient already knows it
• Alluded to, not explicitly mentioned
• The more exformation you share with
audience, the less you have to tell them
• Powerful way to create rapport, establish
trust, and persuade
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Information Elements: III
• Hooks:
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Direct address
Quotation
Question
Unusual statement
Promise of conflict
News peg
Information Elements: IV
• Links are self-explanatory
– Visit CBC Radio Overnight
• Blurbs give more reasons to go there
– Great programs for Canadian insomniacs
Information Elements: V
• Chunks
– 80-100 words
– Break into short paragraphs
– Use subheads if helpful
• Scrolling Text
– Include internal links to speed navigation
• Bulleted lists
Action
• “You” attitude
• Positive attitude
• Response cues
– Solve a problem
– Easy response
– Quick response
Editing Webtext: I
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Active voice
Concrete Anglo-Saxon words
Strong verbs
Simple sentences (under 20 words)
Short paragraphs (under 5 sentences)
Frequent headings and subheads
Editing Webtext: II
• Don’t respect the text!
• The 50% rule
• Print out to proofread
Edit for Global Readers
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Short sentences, real subject first
Positive language
Avoid slang, idioms
Avoid phrasal verbs (write up, write down)
Avoid “miniword” clusters (as a kind of a
way to make the reader confused)
The Subtext of Webtext
• Register: public or intimate?
• Nonverbal message
– Can undercut verbal message
– Always more trusted than verbal message
– Built into site structure and graphics as well as
text