The document discusses online writing and storytelling. Some key points include:
- Online writing should be interactive, tell human stories in short chunks, and avoid outdated information.
- Good online writing uses short paragraphs and sentences, hits readers with salient points upfront, and uses present tense and an informal tone.
- When writing for the web, consider your audience and aim to directly address their needs through a well-structured site with a consistent voice.
27. Avoid If you don’t know the exact date, use some sort of safe, far out, or relative time. E.g., “This information will be updated after an hour/20 minutes.” But be sure you do it, or explain then why not. Rude. The burden isn’t on users to figure out our Web site. No one will come back. Please check back shortly for... Solution Because It’s… Avoid Using
28. Avoid If it’s truly critical information, instead of a link to a nonpage, indicate clearly when users should come back (see above). Bad form. If pages (or sections of) aren’t ready, don’t post placeholder links or pages. under construct-ion
29. Avoid Craft link text that states what the link is. This will also help anyone with assistive technology who’s looking only at links. Uninformative. This doesn’t tell anyone what the link is, except that it’s a link. Click here to enter our Web site/skip intro Leave it out. Irrelevant. Miss Manners doesn’t serve tea online. Welcome to our Web site.