Web users (computers, hand-helds, tablets, etc.) are known to be critical and impatient. They want to find their content quickly, and will move onto another site if it is not immediately available. Web users tend to:
- Scan the content since reading online is 25% slower than reading from paper. In fact, 79% of users always scan the page, while only 16% read word-by-word.
- Prefer concise, easy-to-read, objective content.
- Prefer an informal writing style.
- Use titles to tell them what to expect within subsequent content.
- Detest overly hyped, promotional content.
- Be very visual and investigative.
How Readers Scan Web Pages
Recent research has revealed that web readers scan online content in a rough F shape. Users typically:
- Read the upper part of the content area in a horizontal movement.
- Perform another shorter horizontal movement a little further down the page.
- Scan the content on the left side in a vertical movement.
This scanning pattern tells us that most users:
- Will not read your content fully, especially if they are in their initial research phase.
- Expect the first two paragraphs to contain the most important headers and information.
- Expect subheadings, paragraphs, and bulleted lists t start with real information that addresses their needs.
When We Develop Websites….
Writing for the web (or other online media) requires a different approach than writing for hard-copy. When we write for the web, we work hard to:
- Keep content short, modular, and concise.
- Structure content to make it easy to scan.
- Use the inverted writing style where the paragraph starts with the conclusion.
- Use highlighted keywords (typeface variations and hyperlinks).
- Provide in-context links to related topics.
- Use bulleted lists to summarize information.
- Use meaningful sub-headings to allow for easy scanning.
- Ensure that each paragraph has one dominant idea.
- Use an objective writing style that avoids boastful promotional writing.
- Segment information into logical, modular units.
- Use hypertext links to connect related topics to each other.
- Use simple sentences since convoluted writing and complex words are difficult to read or understand online.
We bring our extensive experience with the development of information rich Intranet and Internet sites to all your projects. All our sites feature easy navigation, structured information layout, and effective use of graphical elements.
Our Website Projects
We have written content-rich online information systems or website for: