Cathy Curtis on writing for the web

Help readers scan. Use subheadings to break up text. Use em-dashes to break up large sentences. Write plainly and transparently. Organise website and webpage in a visually logical way.

Refer: How the Web Made Me a Better Copywriter, Cathy Curtis, AIGA 2009-3-31

www.aiga.org/content.cfm/how-the-web-made-me-a-better-copywriter

Help readers scan - use text structure and formatting to help readers to scan through text and so navigate content to find information that will interest them.

Curtis: Everybody’s a scanner. Web users tend to scan information rather than reading it closely. [Research shows that] reading pixels on a screen makes eyes work harder than reading ink on paper. Another impetus for scanning, I believe, is the web’s seemingly limitless content. If users can't immediately find what they’re looking for, they move on. [So] Web writing has to pick up the pace.

Use subheadings to break up large chunks of text into smaller, labelled sections - to help readers scan for sections with information they seek. Subheadings should be plainly worded and convey the main points of the sections they label. Likewise, sections should be easy to usefully label - should collect together information on a particular topic or making a particular point.

Curtis: Subheads built for speed. To make copy easier to scan, I break it up with multiple subheads. They act as visual skipping stones - an eye-friendly break from blocks of copy. Ideally, the subheads can also convey the main points of the story all by themselves, so they can't be too cute. And they must speak to the general reader, with no insider terminology that would cut the conversation short.

Use em-dashes to break up long sentences into smaller units. Use instead of colons and semicolons which are harder to see on the screen. Use instead of parentheses to avoid clutter and distraction. Place optional information in separate sentences rather than enclosed in parentheses within a sentence - preferably at the end of a paragraph - where it can be ignored or even deleted without reducing text intelligibility. (Use parentheses or other formatting or wording to mark the optionality, if desired.)

Curtis: The em-dash is my friend. Commas, semicolons and colons don’t do a good job of visually breaking up information, and they’re hard to see on the screen. The em-dash is easy to see. Parentheses have to be used carefully, because the words they enclose are understood to be less important than the rest of the sentence. The em-dash is ... democratic in the way it treats words on either side of it. As with everything, you don’t want to overuse Mr. Em. But he is the strongman of the longer web sentence.

Transparency - use smaller words, simpler phrases and fewer adjectives to eliminate distraction - prioritise persuasion and clarity over flourish.

Curtis: Transparency is powerful. Stripped of big words, complex phrases and unnecessary adjectives, copy becomes increasingly transparent - spare and frill-free. Lacking the distracting imposition of a writer's ego, copy becomes a more powerful tool of persuasion.

Structure - make website and webpage structure visually logical for easier navigation - place facts and opinions in a logical sequence or hierarchy.

Curtis: Helping refine web architecture. Writing a news story or essay involves placing facts or opinions in a logical sequence. But a reader-friendly website is organized in a visually logical way. Think like a user ... is the key to producing effective writing in any medium. Much of what I learned about hierarchy came from paying attention to my own navigation - bumpy or smooth - through content-heavy websites written by other people.

Read text aloud to catch unintended repetitions and awkward phrases. Use larger font to keep readers from skating mindlessly over words. Or use differences in font to mark different types of text, with more prominent font (large, bold, colored) for headings and central information. Less prominent fonts for more peripheral information and blockquotes - that can be skated over. Useprintouts to make text correcting and editing easier. Comment: The formatting and composition techniques which make text easier to scan may also make printouts unnecessary for error correction. (M doesn't own a printer.)

Curtis: Polishing every word. As my web writing grew more compact, it felt as though a spotlight shone on every word. I started reading my copy out loud to catch unintended repetition and awkward phrases. I also began using a larger font to keep my eyes from skating mindlessly over the words I’d written on the screen. Even so, I’ve always found it necessary to print out every page. Whether due to my near-sightedness or sheer force of habit, editing copy with any degree of precision requires the crisp contrast and tactile immediacy of a hard copy.