Effective Web Writing: Your Website's Welcome Mat

Vermont Library Conference

May 20, 2014

Heidi Steiner Burkhardt

Head of Digital Services

Kreitzberg Library, Norwich University

“…because you are not there in person to

lead them to the right place, give them the

answer, or walk them through the steps,

you have to build your site to do that in

your place. You have to build your side of

the conversation into the site.”

- Redish (pg. 5)

BONUSES!

Learning about our users

How people read on the web

Essentials for good web writing

1

2

3

1 2 3

Learning about our users

Identify primary audiences

Demographics

Find surveys somebody else did

Library Statistics

http://www.tadl.org/stats/

Large Scale Surveys

Make it a habit

Personas

1 2 3

How people read on the web

Yeah…

…they don’t

People scan…

…and read in an F-pattern

An aside… the cognitive load of making decisions

1 2 3

Essentials for good web writing

Ordering your content

Ordering your content

Essential Message

Ordering your content

Sequence or

time

Ordering your content

Sequence or

time

Audience

Ordering your content

Sequence or

time

Audience

Questions

asked in order

Ordering your content

Sequence or

time

Audience

Questions

asked in order

Task

Keep it scannable!

Keep it scannable!

Organize

using headers

Keep it scannable!

Organize

using headers

Highlight

keywords

Keep it scannable!

Organize

using headers

Highlight

keywords

Use bulleted

lists

Keep it scannable!

Organize

using headers

Highlight

keywords

Use bulleted

lists

One idea per

paragraph

Keep it scannable!

Organize

using headers

Highlight

keywords

Use bulleted

lists

One idea per

paragraph

50% of usual words

Web writing is a conversation

Web writing is a conversation

We/Us/Our and I/You/Your

Web writing is a conversation

We/Us/Our and I/You/Your

Plain language. Avoid jargon

Web writing is a conversation

We/Us/Our and I/You/Your

Plain language. Avoid jargon

Use active voice

Save time of the reader

Save time of the reader

Get to the

point and stop

Save time of the reader

Get to the

point and stop

Use parallel

structure

Save time of the reader

Get to the

point and stop

Use parallel

structure

Cut unnecessary

words

Save time of the reader

Get to the

point and stop

Use parallel

structure

Cut unnecessary

words

Space out

nouns

Font choices

Font choices

Never use all

caps

Font choices

Never use all

caps

Bold for

emphasis

Font choices

Never use all

caps

Bold for

emphasis

Italics

sparingly

Font choices

Never use all

caps

Bold for

emphasis

Italics

sparingly

Never

underline

Links

Links

Clear, concise

and meaningful

Links

Clear, concise

and meaningful

Words, phrases

or a sentence

Links

Clear, concise

and meaningful

Words, phrases

or a sentence

No Click Here.

Ever

Links

Clear, concise

and meaningful

Words, phrases

or a sentence

No Click Here.

Ever

No more than 2

in one sentence

Before

After

Further Reading

Aaron Schmidt – http://www.walkingpaper.org/

and The User Experience Library Journal column

Nielsen Norman Group - http://www.nngroup.com/

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug

Letting Go of Words by Ginny Redish

Photo Credits 1. Welcome to the train by Kdt. CC BY 2.0

2. Mitchell Library Reading Room, 1911-1912, by unknown photographer. Courtesy of the State Library of New South

Wales.

4-5. Open door by seagers CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

7. Brainstorm by marcos c CC BY-NC 2.0

10. LT – Presentations – Audience Participation CC BY-NC 2.0

11. The Crew of NCC-1701-D by Dunechaser CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

12. The underside of a wagon by yewenyi CC BY-NC 2.0

14. Little Giant…the Sea! by .:Adry:. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

15. Reminders… by tiff_ku1 CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

18. X by hidden side CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

19. Yucatan by André Hofmeister CC BY-NC 2.0

20. Craquelure Capital Letter F On Glass by takomabibelot CC BY 2.0

21decisions by Impact Hub CC BY-SA 2.0

23-28. Life follows a pattern! by VinothChandar CC BY 2.0

29-34. Baby I Want You by Thomas Hawk CC BY-NC 2.0

35-38. What do you think they are talking about? CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

39-43. Cranbrook Gardens by beckstei CC BY 2.0

44 -48. speedy typing by abcdz2000 CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

49 -53. Detail of chain by ernest figueras CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

56. Open Book by Dave Dugdale CC BY-SA 2.0

59. Unsure Of The Next Step by eviloars CC BY-NC 2.0

60. thanks in purple by artnoose CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Works Consulted

Works Cited Nielsen, J. (1997). How users read on the web. Nielsen Norman Group. Accessed at

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-users-read-on-the-web/ on 8 May 2014.

-- (2006). F-Shaped pattern for reading web content. Nielsen Norman Group. Accessed at

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/ on 8 May 2014.

-- (2008). How little do users read? Nielsen Norman Group. Accessed at http://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-little-

do-users-read/ on 24 April 2014.

Redish, G. (2007). Letting go of words: writing web content that works. Elsevier: San Fransciso.

Sierra, K. (2013). “Your app makes me fat.” Serious Pony. Accessed at http://seriouspony.com/blog/2013/7/24/your-

app-makes-me-fat on 8 May 2014.

Class notes from Library Juice Academy’s Writing for the Web course with Rebecca Blakiston and Nicole

Capdarest.

Editorial Standards for Content on the UAL Website. University of Arizona Libraries. Provided via Writing for

the Web Course.

Liegl, C. (2013). Kennedy Library web communications: A simple guide to good web content. Accessed at

http://lib.calpoly.edu/about/publications/2013/web_communications_handbook.pdf on 24 April 2014.

Heidi Steiner Burkhardt [email protected] · www.heidisb.com