Writing for the web is like writing for any other part of the mass media. The writing must be accurate, complete, efficient and precise.

The forms of writing -- particularly the inverted pyramid news story -- that have served us so well in writing for print also work well for writing on the web. They provide a beginning point for us the learn about how to prepare content for the web.

The strength of the web is information. The challenge of the person who is going to work with the web is to prepare and present that information. The form that information takes must be suitable to its content and must be usable to its reader (consumer, visitor, user, etc.)

In preparing content for the web, we should look at two things simultaneously:

• writing style
• visual variety

Writing style

Successful web writing -- in addition to exhibiting the four characteristics of all media writing -- should also have the following traits:

It should be journalistic. The writer should try to fill the writing with information. That information should be interpreted, however, so that the reader can understand it. The writing should have a logical flow, but it should be also be plain and simple. The reader should not have to “figure out” the content.

Writing should be succinct; that is, it should be short and to the point. Brevity, however, is not an excuse to cut content.

Readers on the web appreciate direct, conversational writing.
Think about it this way: You are in an elevator with a friend. You want to tell that friend something -- maybe, where you will be in an hour. The friend is getting off at the next floor, but you are continuing to ride the elevator. You don't waste any words in talking with your friend. You're friendly, but you say what you have to say directly, before your friend has to leave.
Writing for the web is the same thing. People want information, but they want it fast.

Writing should always be attentive to reader needs and expectations. Why is the reader there? What is the reader looking for? What will be useful to the reader? If you can supply these things to the reader with your writing, you are doing a good job.

Visual variety

People who study the web and how others use it say that visitors to web sites scan first and then read. They look over the screen for information that they are interested in, rather than starting at the top left corner of the screen as they might with a page out of a book.

Writers for the web should look for ways to make their text more scannable. A screen full of text, especially what we call body copy, is likely to send readers surfing off to another web site.

But what do we mean by scannable text?

As a writer, you should learn some of the presentation techniques that make text scannable. Here are a few:

• spacing between paragraphs (Example)
• bulleted lists -- lists that have a black dot in front of the items on the list (Example)
• numbered lists -- lists that have numbers in front of the items; in a numbered list, the number of items and their order are important
• indentions -- the copy in the previous section on this page is indented. (Example)
• bolded words -- a word in boldface type (look at the word “scan” in the first paragraph of this section) makes it stand out from the other words in the paragraph; readers can see these words easily and get some idea of the content of the paragraph. (Example)
• horizontal lines -- these help set text off from other parts of the page; they also help enclose text so that a reader gets a visual message that things go together; look at the illustration of this on the left of this page. (Example)
• colored text -- the illustration on the left also uses color to set off some text. One of the standard color uses on the web is to have links in blue and underlined, as they are on this site. This helps viewers see them and interpret them as links.
• graphic integration -- using graphics together with text to catch the eye of the reader and to send a message. Again, the illustration to the right illustrates how this might happen. (Example)

These techniques are part of the arsenal of the writer for the web. The writer needs to understand when these visual techniques are appropriate for use. Sometimes, content must be reformulated so that these techniques can be used.

All of these techniques for introducing visual variety into text have the purpose of helping viewers to see what they want to read.

They also demand that information be broken into smaller bits and pieces than we have been used to with some of our other writing formulas.

Finally, many of these techniques use the same visual principle -- creating space around something, or making it different from its surroundings, allows us to see it more clearly.

Writing in context

Yet another thing that the web demands of the writer is to put the writing in context. A writer must think of writing as connected to subjects and information that may not be present but are accessible because of the technology of the web. Good writers help readers establish those connections.

As a writer for the web, you should understand the context of the information and what beyond the immediate text a user wants to know.

Two concepts you should understand are hypertext and linking (this link will get you to a short article about linking on this site). As a web surfer, you know how linking works. You click on a link and it brings you different information than you had previously.

The concept at work here is hypertext. In writing, it means breaking down information into logical or unified pieces and letting the reader put them together in ways that are the most useful and relevant to the individual. The reader then gets to “package” the information rather than having the writer or editor do that.

In JEM 200, our opportunities to use the concept of hypertext and the process of linking are limited at best. Still, you need to understand these things as you continue with your academic work.

Writing concisely

Last we discussed the idea of writing concisely.

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The job of the writer

A writer’s problem does not change. He himself changes and the world he lives in changes, but his problem remains the same. It is always how to write truly and, having found out what is true, to project it in such a way that it becomes a part of the experience of the person who reads it.
Ernest Hemingway

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As Hemingway says, it does not matter what medium we are working in. As media professionals, we always want to do certain things:

Write accurately, completely, precisely and efficiently.

Give the reader the latest information.

Gather, organize and interpret. That is what people need and expect from us. If we simply dump information on them, we don't do them much of a service.

Write in a simple, straightforward manner.

Present the information in a way that readers can see it and use it.

And, above all, remember that none of this is easy.

Possible news quiz questions

Answer to many of the news quiz questions can be found at the TennesseeJournalist.com (tnjn.com)

1. WUOT, the public radio station on campus, is currently doing a series on what? (tnjn.com)
2. What team does UT's football team play this weekend? (tnjn.com)
3. The UT library has recently put what set of books online? (tnjn.com)
4. VolAware is a program to increase knowledge about what medical condition? (tnjn.com)
5. What teams are still playing in the Major League Baseball playoffs?
6. Wildfires are threatening what part of California?
7. Where was Wednesday night's presidential debate held?
8. Who is the actress who plays Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live?