Writing Web Documents for Usability

An excellent study on this subject is located at http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/

There's a lot (A LOT) there, and Jacob doesn't follow his own advice very well, but it's a very interesting and useful study. A brief summary is located at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

Jacob's basic findings:

• How People Read on the Web: They Don't.
• People don't read web pages, they scan.

Jacob's Prescription:

• Brief sentences
• Bulleted lists
• Short pages (minimal scrolling)
• Short lines (10-12 words per line)
• Highlighted keywords
• Colorful, descriptive paragraph headers
• One idea per paragraph
• The inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion.
• Half the word count (or less) than conventional writing

Especially interesting was his finding that "promotional language imposes a cognitive burden on users who have to spend resources on filtering out the hyperbole to get at the facts."

"When people read a paragraph that starts 'Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions,' their first reaction is no, it's not, and this thought slows them down and distracts them from using the site."

Since I've mentioned the WebDevelopment newsletter several times now, it's probably only fair to pass on the info on how to subscribe to it:

To SUBSCRIBE, mailto:wd@gs2.revnet.com

In the BODY of your message, put: JOIN

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