Introduction (Why write for the Web is different)

Even all of us intuitively understand that writing on the web is not the same as writing for a newspaper or magazine paper, or writing poetry or creating a book. Not only because the style must be different, but also because the technology presents us with completely new challenges and opportunities.

The texts designed for the web have a characteristic that makes them different from everyone else: they are usable with non-linear reading paths. This is reflected in the actions that each of us performs several times a day to read content on a web page that is linked to other content that contains, in turn, a video, an image or a form to request a ' user interaction. It follows that the reading path is no longer fixed a priori by the writer but, rather, the reader, who becomes autonomous and completely independent of the intended structure of the typical printed page.

Therefore it is very important that the web writer always keep in mind the specific characteristics of hypertext, providing clear references on every page to help the user to navigate through menu navigation, breadcrumbs (cd breadcumb menu), portions of text consistent and independent even with respect to the general context. But not only. Writing for the Web has to have a much broader overview and be able to "exit page" is not conceivable, in fact, a web page with no external links, multimedia elements and / or tools of interaction with users (think, for example, the classic form of comments in all blogs).

Coming to content is essential to remember, right from the start, the speed and concrete characteristics are crucial to any text for the web.
Much of the writing for the web, in reality, it is the prerogative of journalistic writing: how the newspapers on the web, it is advisable to start from the conclusions (catchy title and "booster") "slamming" revealing information in the foreground and background depth pass, then, in the background so as to be available only to those who want to continue to read full article.
In short: do the opposite of what you were taught in school! Starting from the premises to arrive at conclusions is logically impeccable, but leads to a loss of readers. The average reader, especially the one in front of the PC screen, in a hurry and is parsimonious in giving their time, reserving it only to those who can capture, with the tricks of which we have mentioned, his attention.
The technique that we have briefly described is the famous inverted pyramid (to arrive at conclusions from premises) Jacon Nielsen talks about one of the leading world experts in usability.

Writing for the Web, in addition, we can not overlook the characteristics of the player on-line and half of the Internet, so important that we further in a specific lesson, but already here can be dashed macroconcetti:

• First of all, the mass audience no longer exists, but disappears fragmenting into so many niches highly heterogeneous.
• Secondly, the 'you are very demanding, impatient and at times extremely confusing with the huge amounts of information at his disposal.
• 'S online information quickly and nobody wants to grow old fashioned content: Update your site frequently, not only improves the positioning in search engines but also loyalty and credibility in us by our readers.
• The communication is no longer the type "one to many", but has assumed the contours of a direct relationship ("one"). This must be translated into an effort to make our highly customized content, giving the impression of speaking face to face with every single player.

Of course, the next step is to know your users, the expectations, tastes, goals. It seems, apparently, very difficult, but with a little training, and some specific techniques (which we discuss in the following classes) you can start and get the first results in terms of increased usability by improving the user experience of our users.

• <<Previous Lesson
• Help Index
• Next Lesson>>