Writing for the Web vs Print - Article Summary

Authors who write for the Internet usually have to write in more broad terms, which is different when it comes to writing for books or magazines. Because the web is so accessible, broad terms must be applied, but having a genre in mind can be a useful strategy.

1. Structure and design are concerns for Web writers
-Web and Print-Print writers are concerned only with content: other people, such as editors, designers, printers, worry about format and design. To Web writers, all of these non-text elements must be kept in mind, because these elements have an enormous effect on the effectiveness of a Web site.

2.Write no more than 50% for what you would write for print
-Web-Writers should write approximately 50% less when writing for the Web than when writing for print, even when the same material is being covered.
-Print-Although, fewer words and shorter sentences are a basic guideline for Plain Language, the end result is not always a shorter document. Writing in a simple, reader-oriented way can sometimes mean writing more words.

3.Write for scannability
-Web and Print- When people read a screen, they are likely to skip and skim over the text
~Use two or three levels of headings
~Use meaningful, information-giving headings
~Use bulleted lists
~Use highlighting and emphasis
~Put the most important material first
~Put the topic sentence at the beginning of every paragraph

4. The web encourages restless reading
-Web and print engenders differing reading patterns within their readers. Web sites, due to its condensed and nonlinear nature encourages a casual relationship between the reader and the work as well as between the reader and the web producer. This evolves into the reader having a conversation with the work's writer. Print however engenders a passive response within their reader thereby creating a distance between the reader and the writer not found largely in web media

5. Split information into coherent chunks
-Web and print must try to break their information into separate chunks. Due to how easily the short term memory can be taxed to exhalation the practice of chunking information on a per topic basis is universal. However, chunking for the web must take into account the navigational capabilities available to the web as well as screen size and navigational furniture.

6.Web writers can't predict where their readers will start
-Due to the navigational features native to the web, web writers must structure their information into independent parts that are coherent without any outside interference. This consideration tends not to be a concern for print writers because readers would follow the flow of the work and would not jump around the work.

7. Readers "pull" the information they need from the web
web - The web is often described as a user driven, "pull" medium. Readers actively pull from websites only the information that interests them, and other material is ignored. Online documents are user controlled whereas in print the reading the sequence is directed by the author and can be passively accepted by readers.

Using Genre to Compare the Web and Print
The value of genre is that it provides authors with developing texts and it provides readers with framework for reading and understanding.

Conclusion
Many of the guidelines advocated for Web writing are regularly applied to print writing and have long history in the print literature. many of the fundamental writing issues that communicators should consider appear to apply in both print and web environments.