Writing for the Web

There are a few important things to remember, when writing Web content.  Applying these best practices, will make your web pages more effective, popular, and discoverable - increasing their impact.

In a nutshell, you need to make sure your web content is:

Casual

Avoid formal / academic writing.  People need to find (and understand) information on your page, so it must be as clear and succinct as possible, with a neutral or friendly tone. This will happen, naturally, if you apply the approaches outlined on this page.

Inviting

Web pages are targeted at the general public, who are typically not used to reading dense bodies of text.  The CMS ensures the correct font size, contrast, and line spacing for comfortable reading but that's not enough.  Best practice is to use colour, spacing and images to break up long blocks of text.

The easiest way to do this is to use different Content Types on your page.

Some content types - for example: 'Accordion', and 'Content (Rich Text)' - can hold a lot of content.   If you have no need for other content types, then add paragraph breaks and/or Foreground Images to break up any long blocks of text. 

Another way to add whitespace is to add headings.  These have the added advantage of making the page more scannable, allowing visitors to easily locate the information they are looking for.
Tip: Heading 1 (H1) should only appear once on a page and is already in your page, so only add H2's.  If adding a H3, ensure there is a H2 above it, and so on. 

If using images, try to use ones that support your text - and always ensure they are of good quality.

Easy to Read

Readability

1. Always use the simplest and clearest language possible, avoiding technical language wherever you can. If you must use technical language, clearly explain what it means in plain English.
Tip: Use Hemmingway Editor to check the readability of your content.  Other tools are also available - see our Accessibility FAQ page for more information.

2. Break text into chunks using:

• Short paragraphs
• Lists
• Sub-headings  

This helps members of the public to quickly scan, understand and absorb information.

Brevity

The shorter you can say it, the better.  But be careful not to compromise on clarity. 
Normally, good web content will be within the following word counts:

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronyms can often help to shorten sentences - but be sure to spell it out fully, the first time you use it, putting the acronym in brackets.  For example:

Contact Information Solutions and Services (IIS) for more information.  ISS can also help you to ...

You should treat any uncommon abbreviations in the same way.  Try to keep unfamiliar abbreviations or acronyms to a minimum. 

Easy to Understand

Quick Wins

1. Try to avoid technical words - If you must use them, clearly explain what they mean.

2. Avoid Latin / French abbreviations - use English equivalents instead.  Many people who will hear your web text being read aloud - this includes:

• People with dyslexia or limited vision.
• Anyone using digital assistants at home (such as Amazon Alexa or Google Dot).
• Anyone using a digital assistant on a mobile device  (for example: Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, Bixby).

The above tips help a little, but to make your content truly understandable, it must by Simple, Clear, Accurate, and Well Paced (SCAWP):

Simple

This can apply to language.  For example:

"Avoiding unnecessarily complicated language choices is the most substantial change you can make to improve legibility."

The above statement is perfectly true (and eloquently put), but it is not simple!
Remember, not all readers will have your command of the English language:

• For a lot of our target audience, English is their second language. 
• A large chunk of our target audience (CAO applicants) are not yet comfortable reading formal English.
• Anyone who is capable of (or comfortable) reading it may also be tired - so they will appreciate when you use simple language, that explains your point just as clearly, but needs far less brain-power to process.
• You are creating content on a public website that's accessible worldwide - some people who read your content will not have the benefit of a complete education; others may have a lower-than-average capacity for understanding, for many possible reasons.

So to follow best practice, I'll say that first statement another way:

The best way to make your content easy to read is to avoid long words - using 2 or 3 shorter words will get the point across just as well.

If explaining a process, use the simplest case first .  Too much information, too early, can hinder understanding.  So, if there are multiple exceptions to a rule you've just introduced, don't explain them until later - wait until the reader fully understands and has got comfortable with the simplest case. 

Clear

Maximising clarity takes a lot of thought - you must:

1. Remove any vagueness.
   Vague sentences lack specifics, leading to a blurred meaning and potential misinterpretations.
   Example: Delete any documents with our old logo.  Backups should be stored in the backup folder.
   
   It is unclear whether the reader is expected to (a) back up the documents before deleting them, or (b) delete those documents and then move any remaining backups into the backup folder.
   
   
2. Remove any ambiguity.
   Ambiguous sentences can have 2 or more different interpretations.
   Example 1: Meetings are scheduled biweekly.
   (Is that once every 2 weeks or twice a week?) 
   
   Example 2: Go to the shop for eggs and, if they have sausages, buy 12.
   This could mean:
   (a) Buy a pack of 6 eggs and, if the shop has sausages, buy 12 sausages.
   (b) Buy a pack of 6 eggs - but if the shop has sausages, buy 12 eggs and a pack of sausages.
   (c) Buy a pack of 6 eggs - unless the shop has sausages - in which case, buy 12 eggs (only).
   
3. Use punctuation for added clarity and readability.
   Forgetting to add a punctuation mark (or using the wrong one) can alter the meaning of a sentence, add confusion, or else add ambiguity - all of which increase the risk of the reader misunderstanding what you wrote.
   Sentences can be unclear, even if not breaking any clear punctuation rules.  For example:
   
   [Bad]    This book is dedicated to my parents, Anne Dunne and God.
   [Good] This book is dedicated to my parents, Anne Dunne, and God.
   
   Without the Oxford comma (just before the word 'and'), this sentence suggests that the author's parents are Anne Dunne and God.  But with the comma added, it is perfectly clear that the book is dedicated to their parents, and Anne Dunne, and God.
   
   
4. Strive for good flow from sentence to sentence - and also within each sentence.
   Good flow guides the reader effortlessly, while poor flow feels choppy or disjointed, distracting from the message and requiring more concentration.
   To ensure good flow, try not to introduce a related item while you are still explaining the first.
   
   Example:
   [Bad flow]    Use the above link to submit your image to the competition, making sure you know its height and width, and filling in every field, for review. 
   [Good flow] Know your image's height and width.  Then use the above link to submit it to the competition for review.  Remember to fill in every field. 
   
   Some people struggle to see much difference between the good and bad examples, above: 
   It helps to remember that good flow never leaves something hanging / unfinished.  The above bad example starts making a point, interjects with a 2nd point, adds in a third point, and then returns to finish the original point that had been left hanging.  The good example covers all 3 points one at a time.

Accurate

It's important that the information, being provided is factually correct.  Errors and accidental contradictions in your web content will lead to confusion.  Also, the reader will be unsure what (if anything) on the page can be trusted. 

A lot of confusion can arise from simple spelling mistakes (typos) - especially if English is not the reader's first language, or if they are not be familiar with University procedures / units / acronyms. 

Example 1: Apply No.
(readers may see 'apply number' instead of guessing it is 'Apply Now' with its last letter missing).

Example 2: If you cannot log in with your new student account, Contact ISD.
The typo in ISS might not confuse a CAO student, but foreign students could search for ISD in Google and find 'Immigration Service Delivery' as the top result.

Well Paced

The pace of delivery is not a concern when creating written web content.  If that webpage content is well-constructed and clear, the reader will consume your web page's information at the speed most comfortable for them.

But this aspect of understandability is very important for audio/visual communication, such as embedded videos.  If your delivery is too slow, viewers may lose interest but, at the same time, you must be careful not to rush -  and remember to pause for 1 second between sentences.  If you go too fast for the viewer, the anxiety from barely keeping up with the video will impair their ability to understand - and it will also tire them out, making it even harder for them to understand.

For educational videos, it's also important to build in time for new concepts to sink in before moving on to another topic. A two- to three-second pause between related topics will make the world of difference to your video's understandability.  This slightly longer pause allows the listener to finish processing your last sentence, put everything you've told them together (to understand that topic fully), and then get ready to concentrate on the follow-on topic.