Section: 0.4: Your textual content

Website visitors scan!

Reading from a computer screen is different from reading from a book or a newspaper; most of your visitors will 'scan a web page' looking for headings, keywords, or phrases. With this in mind the textual content will need be to the point, easy to read and concise. If you have a lot of content, it will need to be organised and hyper-linked into manageable chunks.

" The key to good 'chunking' is to divide your information into comprehensive segments. That way readers will have direct and complete access to the topics they are interested in without having to wade through irrelevant material or follow a series of links to get the whole picture" webstyleguide.com

Content quantity

The amount of information you have may determine the layout style of your site, for example if your site is primarily an image-based portfolio with very little text you may need a site with a fixed width. Alternatively if you have reams and reams of text with many images, a fluid or flexible solution might be a better idea.

The argument over using fixed or fluid/flexible layouts has been debated many times by the web design community and there are pros and cons to either approach. At the end of the day it comes back to what's best for your target audience.

Write quality content

To write quality content you need to have a good awareness of your target audience. So assuming you know this, let's push on with a few tips.

When writing the content for your website, try to develop a style that reflects the spectrum of your audience.
Use simple sentence structures: long-winded writing and complex words are even harder to understand online.
Each paragraph should include one key idea; use a second paragraph for a second idea.
Use headings wisely, users rarely read web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page and look for keywords and headings.
Use bulleted or numerical lists, more on this later.
Bear in mind that the user may have entered your site from any page, so make every page independent and clarify its specific theme, don't assume the user has viewed the previous page/s.
Put the most important information near the top of your pages, some users don't like to scroll down too much.
Use present or present perfect tense. Write in the here and now, the web is often viewed as a live medium.
Search engines look for good, relevant content, the text on your home page is probably the most important, make sure you explain your services clearly and spread your keywords evenly throughout your page.
Words or phrases in bold or italics can help readers find what they want, however don't go over the top, too much bold or italic text can look messy!
From time to time write fresh content; create a news-page and keep the most important pages up to date.
If you really have to use last years article that was written for print, rewrite it for the web.

More on using bullet points

Bulleted and numbered lists slow down the scanning eye and can draw attention to important points, lists also help the reader make sense of the information on the page.

The following example is taken from Designing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen.

Consider the following paragraph

Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).

Not that easy to read, now take a look at the same content using a bulleted list.

In 1996, six of the most-visited places in Nebraska were:

Fort Robinson State Park
Scotts Bluff National Monument
Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum
Carhenge
Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer
Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Par

Full details can be found at Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox.

Check your spelling

Always double-check all your copy for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. Remember your website is often a 'first point of contact' for many people. Basic spelling errors suggest a lack of professionalism and could reflect badly on your organisation or company as a whole.

Next: Using colour.