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Writing for the Internet: Same Message, New Style
Written by Len Stein
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Len Stein emphasizes that since the world wide web has come about in the last five years, it has changed the way people are looking and searching for their news. Some points of interest Stein touches on are the following.
A New World
The emphasis here is on the idea that the internet has no boundaries like a story in a printed medium has. He says in his article, "We shouldn't think that text on the Web is just "repurposed" print material squirted through an HTML word processor. That won't work, because the Web is a pageless paradise, an unstructured morass of ideas, information, and opinion."
Stein goes on to say the internet is about browsing though something and possibly not looking at the entire article. It's about finding a structure in the internet stories like a reader would in the print stories. Stein says, "The Web is a new medium without limits. It's up to the writer to provide the structure that helps readers find their way."
The Didactic Web
While the written word is still the primary communication on the Web, readers are looking for stories on the Web to be short, written in the active voice, packed with information and containing multiple links to other subjects related to the current one.
"Readers shouldn't have to hunt for the subject and predicate (or else it's "click"). The Web is quite a challenge, and writers should not be the weakest link," Stein says in his article.
The Physical Parameters
Stein mentions that eye tracking and resolution on a computer are key issues for retaining an audiences' attention. To keep readers interested Web writers should keep browsers full of movement and should make them right to the point.
"The most effective Web material keeps readers constantly engaged with interactivity through a series of structured, interlacing hyperlinks and bookmarks. This approach allows people to "cyber-plunge" into the material wherever they see fit," Stein said.
He went on to say, "The trick is to direct and guide the interest of readers/browsers toward the objective of informing them with our worthy prose -- whether catalog copy or federal regulations."
Len Stein writes numerous articles on the Web.
Some of his other articles can be reached below.
Pro Bono Publico: The Internet Offers Aid and Comfort
Writing for the Internet: Same Message, New Style (Part 2)
Designing Web Sites to Maximize Press Relations