Less artistic, easier on the eyes!

Every few days I try to complete another text only page for my site, so I was interested in a site I found by Jakob Nielsen, entitled Writing for the Web. His message is that writing for the web is different than writing for print media.

First, computer users scan pages instead of reading word-for-word. I do not know about you, but I know I do this, until I find that it is interesting enough to give it a more careful read. I am on dialup, and those minutes are slow going, so I am not wasting my time on a page that does not have the information I want on it.

He also states that it is 25% slower to read from the computer screen than from a paper. I have to wonder if this is also a case of it being easier to read black letters on white, rather than some of the insane combinations I have seen on the web.

I have literally seen red letters on green and when you have colors like that, itthey just seem to throb at you. It is popular right now to put black letters on white backgrounds. This is probably the hardest, especially for older people or those whose eyesight is not the best, to read.

I have said it before and I will say it again, this is not going to stop anyone from copying your words. All they have to do is copy it and then change the text color. And, there is always PrtSc for anything else, folks, so be kind to your readers and, not so artistic, and make your copy readable.

His other points were to use simple sentence structure, update the page frequently, use bulleted lists --- oppps!! Let's change that to a bulleted list and see how much easier it is to see.

· Simple sentence structure
· Update page frequently
· Use bulleted lists
· Avoid scrolling
· Have a main page and link it to secondary pages for more detail
· Use headlines and captions
· Edit your work.

The only one I disagree with is “avoid cute headlines.” Frankly, a funny catchy headline will slow me down to investigate how well a site is written, now if you are writing for a professional audience, perhaps you want to tone that headline down.

I am off to edit and simplify and write catchy headlines, now.