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Writing for the Web Articles & Videos

  • Information Scent

    Information foraging explains how users behave on the web and why they click certain links and not others. Information scent can be used to analyze how people assess a link and the page context surrounding the link to judge what's on the other end of the link.

  • Content Inventory and Auditing 101

    A content inventory and audit are two important activities to complete before developing a strategy to improve your digital content. Conduct them together to set your content up for success.

  • Privacy Policies and Terms of Use: 5 Common Mistakes

    Policy pages often fail to follow basic usability guidelines: they are not readable, lack high-level summaries and inside-policy navigation, have poor formatting, and are not available in expected places.

  • The Biggest Mistake in Writing for the Web

    Before you write any content for the web, you should clearly define who will read it, what the reader’s goals are, and what impact you want your content to have on the reader.

  • How People Read Online: New and Old Findings

    Looking back at findings from a series of eyetracking studies over 13 years, we see that fundamental scanning behaviors remain constant, even as designs change.

  • The Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice in UX Writing

    The words in your interface can help establish your product’s personality. The tone of any piece of content can be analyzed along 4 dimensions: humor, formality, respectfulness, and enthusiasm.

  • Better Labels for Website Links: the 4 Ss for Encouraging Clicks

    4 guidelines for writing the link texts on websites to ensure users click the right options. Links should be Specific, Sincere, Substantial, and Succinct.

  • Text Scanning Patterns: Eyetracking Evidence

    Eyetracking research shows that there are 4 main patterns that people use to scan textual information on webpages: F-pattern, spotted pattern, layer-cake pattern, and commitment pattern.

  • The Layer-Cake Pattern of Scanning Content on the Web

    When headings and subheadings visually stand out on the page and are descriptive, users engage in an efficient scanning pattern that allows them to quickly find the information that they need.

  • "About Us" Information on Websites

    Users expect About Us sections to be clear, authentic, and transparent. They compare corporate content with third-party reviews to form a holistic opinion of a company before initiating business or applying for jobs.

  • Typography Terms Cheat Sheet

    Typography concepts can sometimes get lost in translation between researchers, developers, designers, and stakeholders. Use this cheat sheet to help you decode the meaning of common or often mistaken typography terms.

  • Better Link Labels: 4Ss for Encouraging Clicks

    Specific link text sets sincere expectations and fulfills them, and is substantial enough to stand alone while remaining succinct.

  • UI Copy: UX Guidelines for Command Names and Keyboard Shortcuts

    Labels for commands should be brief, informative, rely on verbs and adjectives, and avoid branded terms. Command shortcuts must limit the number of modifiers and follow standard conventions.

  • Interface Copy Impacts Decision Making

    The language used in interfaces influences the decisions that our users will make. Manipulative copy nudges users towards making choices that are against their best interests.

  • Establishing Tone of Voice

    Learn how to establish tone of voice in your experience and evaluate the impression your copy leaves on users.

  • Why Chunking Content is Important

    Chunking makes content easier to comprehend and remember. Chunking text help users understand the relationship between content elements and information hierarchy.

  • Translation and Localization

    The language of your product is important when communicating with a global audience. Translation and localization are two different levels of adaptation.

  • Plain Language For Everyone, Even Experts

    In our usability study with domain experts, we discovered that even highly educated readers crave succinct information that is easy to scan, just like everyone else.

  • Inverted Pyramid: Writing for Comprehension

    Start content with the most important piece of information so readers can get the main point, regardless of how much they read. This style of writing is perfectly suited to writing for the web.

  • Writing Digital Copy for Specialists vs. General Audiences

    All people prefer web content that is digestible, but domain experts have shared knowledge that changes the rules of plain language.

  • Information Scent

    Information foraging explains how users behave on the web and why they click certain links and not others. Information scent can be used to analyze how people assess a link and the page context surrounding the link to judge what's on the other end of the link.

  • The Biggest Mistake in Writing for the Web

    Before you write any content for the web, you should clearly define who will read it, what the reader’s goals are, and what impact you want your content to have on the reader.

  • The Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice in UX Writing

    The words in your interface can help establish your product’s personality. The tone of any piece of content can be analyzed along 4 dimensions: humor, formality, respectfulness, and enthusiasm.

  • Better Labels for Website Links: the 4 Ss for Encouraging Clicks

    4 guidelines for writing the link texts on websites to ensure users click the right options. Links should be Specific, Sincere, Substantial, and Succinct.

  • Establishing Tone of Voice

    Learn how to establish tone of voice in your experience and evaluate the impression your copy leaves on users.

  • Why Chunking Content is Important

    Chunking makes content easier to comprehend and remember. Chunking text help users understand the relationship between content elements and information hierarchy.

  • Translation and Localization

    The language of your product is important when communicating with a global audience. Translation and localization are two different levels of adaptation.

  • Plain Language For Everyone, Even Experts

    In our usability study with domain experts, we discovered that even highly educated readers crave succinct information that is easy to scan, just like everyone else.

  • Writing Digital Copy for Specialists vs. General Audiences

    All people prefer web content that is digestible, but domain experts have shared knowledge that changes the rules of plain language.

  • F-Pattern in Reading Digital Content

    Eyetracking research shows people read Web content in the F-pattern. The results highlight the importance of following guidelines for writing for the Web.

  • The End of Legacy Media (Newspapers, Magazines, Books, TV Networks)

    In 5-10 years, newspapers, magazines, books, and TV will cease being separate media forms and will be integrated into unified multimedia Web services.

  • Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages

    Rewriting pages from a popular website improved measured usability by 159%. Word count was cut to 54%; long pages were split into hypertext; Web writing guidelines were applied.

  • How Users Read on the Web

    Users don't read Web pages, they scan. Highlighting and concise writing improved measured usability 47-58%. Marketese imposed a cognitive burden on users and was disliked.

  • Be Succinct! (Writing for the Web)

    Reading from screens is 25% slower than from paper and we know that Web users skim rather than read. Web text should be short, emphasize scannability, and be structured into multiple hyperlinked pages (each focused on a subtopic).

  • Concise, SCANNABLE, and Objective: How to Write for the Web

    Studies of how users read on the Web found that they do not actually read: instead, they scan the text. A study of five different writing styles found that a sample Web site scored 58% higher in measured usability when it was written concisely, 47% higher when the text was scannable, and 27% higher when it was written in an objective style instead of the promotional style used in the control condition and many current Web pages. Combining these three changes into a single site that was concise, scannable, and objective at the same time resulted in 124% higher measured usability.

  • Inverted Pyramids in Cyberspace

    Web copy should follow the inverted pyramid style: start with the conclusion. Many users won't see anything else. (Updated in 2003 and 2015.)

  • In Defense of Print

    Paper remains the optimal medium for some forms of writing, especially for long works like a book. It is an unfortunate fact that current computer screens lead to a reading speed that is approximately 25% slower than reading from paper. We have invented better screens and it is just a matter of time before reading from computers is as good as reading from paper, but for the time being we have to design our information for the actual screens in use around the world.