How do people read online?
1. People read 25%-50% slower on screen
2. Most people scan looking for key words or headings
3. Most people (about 75%) read only summaries or parts of texts
4. People look for signs of credibility such as well written, typo free, grammatical content
What kind of content works best?
1. Scannable: headings, links and lists
2. Short: concise and to the point
3. "Chunked": short related sections, paragraphs with one idea only
4. Non-promotional: don't use jargon or marketing style
5. Put the most important content first: use the journalist's inverted pyramid model
6. Be consistent with your choices: for example size of headings.
7. If you are re-purposing content from a print brochure or report reduce it by at least 50%
What to avoid
1 Irrelevant instructions like "click here to go to..." make hyperlinks a natural part of the text
2.Boring mission statements or strategic goals written in mangement speak
3.Wordy welcome text: don't welcome people take them straight to where they want to go
More information and references: Constance J. Petersen: Writing for a web audience
