WRITING FOR THE WEB / 305ENSURE
EASY ACCESS
USE
SUMMARIES
PREPARE
FOR PRINT
of users read a web page word
for word; most people only
scan the text, picking out
highlighted words, bold or
colored section headings,
and bulleted points
16 %
Your principal
goal should be to
provide access
to the information
people are most
likely to want.
Provide easy-to-
follow clues
that will lead
people to chunks of
information that will
be useful to them.Include brief but
comprehensive
summaries of
longer documents,
so that readers can
easily tell whether
they need to read
more or can move
on to other content.Make it easy for
your readers to
find, print, and save
information. If some
aspects of your
content are more
detailed or lengthy,
consider linking to
a PDF file that is
both downloadable
and printable.Navigation aids
Web readers generally do not read
pages in sequence. Instead, they jump
around on a website looking for content
that interests them, navigating back
and forth across images, ideas, and
words. Providing information in precise
segments or “chunks” will allow readers
to quickly find what they’re looking for.
A well-constructed chunk provides
readers with a comprehensive account,
as well as links to related or supporting
pages. When your content lends itself
to such treatment, use lists rather
than paragraphs. Readers can pick
out information more easily from a list
than from a fully developed paragraph.US_304-305_Writing_for_the_Web.indd 305 30/05/16 3:05 pm