Web writing guidelines

The way people read things on-screen is different from the way in which they read from paper. So here is a set of guidelines of things to take into account when you're writing for the web.

• Users scan web pages rather than reading every word.
• Users typically won't give a web page their full attention. For example, they may also be listening to music and using instant messaging.
• Web pages are interactive.

The six elementary rules

George Orwell's rules ("Politics and the English Language", 1946) are just as relevant today for the web.

1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. [The point here is not "print vs. web" but "avoid ones which are used all the time".]
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Organising your page

The structure and organisation of your content should generally be very different from a print version.

Introduce the page

Help the user to know that they're in the right place. Give them a short outline of what they can expect to get if they read on. Do not repeat the page title.

Important content first

What is the main point of your page? Give the user that information or message first, and anything else can follow.

Short and simple

Users will be looking for specific information; being concise and ensuring that you use easy to understand language will help them to find it. If the information is necessarily very long, a PDF download may be more appropriate. Web content will typically be about half the length of print content.

Don't repeat content

If it's been said elsewhere, link to it. This will keep your pages shorter and remove the administrative burden of having to keep checking whether updates are needed.

Highlight key points

Use visual cues (which a CMS would translate into mark-up to make them accessible) to make important content stand out. Someone scanning your page will be more likely to spot this content and read it. Examples include:

• sub-headings
• blockquotes ("callouts" or "pull-quotes")
• bulleted or numbered lists

Note that some text formatting does not translate well to the web. Never underline text - that suggests a link. Italics are harder to read and should be used only if necessary (e.g. citations). Highlighting content with capitals is the online equivalent of shouting.

User-focused content

Know who your audience is and use appropriate language to ensure that they understand you. Make sure that any background information they need is available and obvious. Use a friendly (but not over-familiar) tone, and don't distract users with jargon or over-used phrases.

What next?

Give the user something to do next. For example:

• Put links to other articles which may be of interest at the bottom of your page.
• Offer subscription to a mailing list.

Use keywords

Make sure you include relevant keywords - words and phrases which your users would use - within your content, especially within the headings and first few paragraphs. This will help your pages to show up in search engine results, as well as helping to reassure the user that they're looking at the right page. (Users arriving at a page from search results will often skim the page for keywords before deciding whether to read a page.)

Regular revisions

It can be frustrating to come across a page with out-of date or inaccurate content. Make sure that every page has an "owner" responsible for updating it or removing it if it's no longer relevant.

Accessibility

This is very important. Not all of your users will have the same ability to view your content. This could be because of outdated software, missing plug-ins, or because of a physical disability, for example. There are many different points to bear in mind, though many of this will be dealt with from the technical end by a CMS, for example. Some of the most important considerations are:

• Image alt text.
  • If an image conveys a message, make sure you supply alt text to give that message to people who can't see the image.
  • If the image is purely decorative, leave the alt text blank.
• Link text.
  • Make sure that the link text tells the user what to expect if they follow that link. Never use "click here" or similar - it doesn't give useful information (and indeed not all users can "click").
  • e.g. "For information, please contact us" rather than "Click here to contact us".
• Page structure
  • Structuring your page, using headings, lists, and so on, is a big help not only to people who can see the page, but also to screen-reader users.
• Simple writing
  • Guideline 14 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 is "Ensure that documents are clear and simple".

In summary

• Content should be short and to the point.
• Put key information at the beginning and then elaborate.
• Structure is good. In particular, use sub-headings, short paragraphs of a few sentences, and lists.
• Don't use jargon or slang.
• Don't just paste in content from another source, be it a print document or the previous version of your website.
• Do an online version of a download unless it doesn't translate for the web (e.g. too long or unsuitable for HTML).
• Keep your content up-to-date and accurate
• What next? Make it obvious.
• Keep accessibility in mind.

Further reading

If you're interested in going into a bit more detail, here are a few resources to get you started:

• Queensland Government: web writing
• W3C checklist for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0
• The Guardian (A PDF version is freely available)
• The Plain English Society has before and after examples and a guide on writing in plain English
• Jakob Neilsen's summary of how users read on the web ("they don't")

A quick thank you to Torchbox for letting me reproduce these guidelines here - I wrote these as part of my work there.

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© Bryan Gullan