Writing For The Web | What is Web Writing?
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3. The popularity of text online
Write simple headlines
• Rather than transfer heads from the print edition, work hard on making
them simple and easy to understand.
• Remember you are writing for a global audience, many of whom have
English as a second
• Simplicity aids clarity.
• Use lower case as much as possible because too many capitals breaks up
the reading flow.
4. Use short summaries and paragraphs
Aim to summarize stories in a couple of sentences rather than provide all
the story.
Provide a hypertext link to the full version. Set up each file so it is
possible to have a print-only version of each story as well, to cater for
the many people who prefer to read their news on paper.
If you run a story for longer than two or three sentences, break the story
into paragraphs.
5. Write tightly and simply
Apply the basic editing principles, such as active voice and powerful verbs.
This necessitates a return to the good old-fashioned inverted pyramid form of
writing that tells the story in the first three paragraphs.
It means writing with verbs and nouns and omitting irrelevant modifiers
(unnecessary adjectives and adverbs).
It means following the best principles of tabloid writing — short sentences (no
more than 20 words) and short words.
Broadsheet papers cannot transfer their stories directly to the Web. Stories must
be edited. Sentences need to be shortened and a simpler language adopted to
ensure stories are easy to absorb.
6. Think globally
o Edit with international readers in mind. Remember that Web sites have
global audiences.
o Readers in the Australia will only know what an ‘ambo’.
o A South African has a ‘braai’ to welcome people to their country but few
outside that nation know what the word means (it’s their form of
barbecue). Aim to use international language.
7. Package material into chunks
Think of ways to package material in bite-size pieces. One way to make
anything digestible is to break it into chunks.
With online text, break a long list of items into bullet points. Or divide
material into columns or use colour to separate text.
Make more use of bold to highlight key words.
8. Web editing summarized
Editing web-based content:
• Use a compelling heading, frequent subheadings.
• Use shorter paragraphs; about 50 words maximum.
• Use shorter sentences.
• Use bulleted text or lists.
• Keep text to 700-1,000 words, and use links for longer
stories. Keep in mind, however, that a link to more
text is like a jump--you'll lose some readers who won't
follow it.
• Add in-text links for more information, but don't
overdo it.
