All yee writing for the web....
It is sad indeed that the semester is coming to an end and so is the course on "Bible in Electronic Context"- I mean just for the course not that I'm anywhere near being on holiday(-:)
- As I finish my class project for the course, Racheal McAlpines book on Web Word Wizadry: A Guide to Writing for the Web and Intranet serves as a guide and a warning to future writings on the web.
- To develop a quality site and one that has our audience in mind, this book is a must read. Web writing is not easy as it sounds after all. How in the world can the publisher "create mental pictures of the people who are thier audience"?Imagine the kind of keywords and terms the audience would use with the search engines to searc for the sites? Reading her book makes this sound... everthinking of writing for the web,
- Have you taken into consideration that most web readers skim? NO OR MINIMAL SCROLLING (I hope this does not mean web readers suffer from selective amnesia..)
- What about the fact that sites are globally read, readers whose primary language is not English.... (take care of those big words)
- How about "perfect navigation, worthwhile content, user friendly design, and good writing?
blogging will go on though........
6 Comments:
Interesting is the difference between blogging and writing for the web. Both use the same medium but the difference is obviously in the intent.
Blogging is a bit like discourse where we put stuff out for comment and where scrolling is acceptable and usual whereas the web is not interactive in the same way - we put the stuff out there and that is it unless we want to change it i guess. It is more of a statement than an invitation.
The scrolling thing is interesting, there is now lots of evidence that users do not mind scrolling IF they have reason to expect that scrolling will lead to material they want to see. The trouble is that often sites do not give clues "above the fold" (i.e. visible when you first arrive) that such interesting material is below... Focus is much more important than scrolling as such usually...
denisek, the difference between blogging and writing for the web is almost similar to the different between a love letter to my girlfriend and writing a book ...
Anyway, while working on my hypertext project I often pretend to be the audience. What do I do if I am the audience? and I have to agree with Tim that I don't mind scrolling as long as I'm reading what I want ...
O sea
you write love letters
I write essays
you kiss your girlfriend
I walk an aged dog
how bout a love blog
Nedd
Hey Sea and Denisek, I'm sure both of you are right,,,,,, yah. Know what sea, after taking this course, I think most web writers think 'the writing to the galfriend' type interest readers the most - and the 'essay type' pushes them away.
If print culture was a person - I'm sure he/she would have made Denisek a president or soemthing!
I agree Tim- it is about focus. But after going through the many links- most cases leading me far away from the main site - it is a no to scrolls coz I may forget.
I click on a link with other links within and I wonder to worlds unknown..... while in another world, I find something else that interest me and I forget where I began from. at times it is not about the content but some flossy pictures like those on 'the dawn's final project'!
When I come back
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