The Web has emerged as a powerful medium of communication. The challenge we face is to adapt to users with different interests, skill sets, and backgrounds.
We are all faced with one task--getting our message to our audience. I'd like to share some tips and techniques that have helped me as I started publishing on the Web. You should be able to use the same ideas and resources without changing your basic strategies or methods. I'm going to touch on just a few issues that are important to writers and editors.
Although it's fairly easy to convert printed publications to the Web, we need to consider alternate methods of presenting the same information. A reader will accept a lengthy printed publication, but a lengthy text-filled Web window turns most readers off. Visitors prefer bite-sized chunks of information on the Web.
One method that works well for us is the FAQ, or list of frequently asked questions and answers. It's not glamorous, but it presents chunks of information and gets the job done. Another way we handle the problem of sheer volume is to write as concisely as possible, try to avoid redundancy, and organize the information in easy-to-manage pieces.
There are several critical areas to consider when planning to write for the Web.
I. Define your audience.
This is the easy part. You have probably already done this in your printed literature. This definition comes from your manager, director, or administrator. Sometimes definitions, responsibilities, and politics change, so you need to be in touch with your management on a regular basis, and give them the opportunity to provide feedback or approvals of the information you have published. What messages are most important to your organization?
Remember, Web surfers are selfish. They want information that's helpful, reliable, and up-to-date. They want the pages to download fast, and they don't want to be stopped in their tracks by a Java applet or unwieldy multimedia presentation that forces them to watch something they aren't interested in and perhaps even makes their machine crash. This can create bad publicity and cause the visitor to avoid your site. One way to avoid this is to test your site thoroughly before making it public. Even then, if it is an experimental or cutting edge presentation, provide basic information on the main page, but invite visitors to go off to your multimedia presentation if they would like to try it for fun.
II. Research
As writers and editors, we've all conducted research. But we've all become so busy that sometimes we don't have time to do the in-depth research that we would like to do. However, somehow you must find the time to research the Web to identify sites that work well and don't work well. You can get many good ideas by visiting other universities and seeing how they handle the information. At least check out the other Big Ten universities, as managers like to know where we are compared to them.
When you do your research, examine the way good, easy-to-use sites present information. In many cases, they present an abstract or summary. Visitors can click to the complete article or more details if they wish.
III. Content
Content is the focus of the Web user's attention. It is the reason that they come to your site. They will ask "what's in it for me" and "How does this help me to solve my problem?"
Good, clear, concise content is the most important component of your Web site. The design and programming should complement and enhance the content. You've probably visited sites where the content was lost amid the graphics, gimmicks, or lost in a hard-to-use database interface. Your goal should be to enable visitors to quickly find the information.
It's just as important to provide the opportunity to contact you if visitors are unable to find information or have a comment. Always include contact information on every Web page (even though this results in additional e-mail).
Summary
In summary, I'd like to encourage you to try one of these ideas this week:
Here are some references that may be helpful to you. Good luck with your site.
Penn State Web Style Guide:
http://www.psu.edu/ur/webstyleguide/
Yale Web Style Guide:
http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/
Information Architecture Tutorial:
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/tutorials/tutorial1.html
Writing for the Web: A Primer for Librarians:
http://bones.med.ohio-state.edu/eric/papers/primer/toc.html
Writing for the Web:
http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/
