Writing for the Web, Continued

Be True to the Content

Let's get one thing straight: all web sites are not the same. Neither are all books, newspapers, or brochures. You wouldn't expect the obituaries to be written the same way as the sports pages, or a textbook to read like a war novel. Writing for any medium is first and foremost about doing the right thing for the content.

Content is undeniably king in users' minds, and how you structure it for the Web affects how it is perceived. More than one really great article has been compromised by poor web editing decisions or by unreadable presentation. More than one really dumb topic has been elevated to greatness by fine prose and a thoughtful layout.

Tone: how you say it matters
A large part of being true to the content has to do with striking the right tone. On the Web, things are generally pretty chatty and familiar. It's a casual medium, for the most part, for which we have thousands of web homesteaders to thank. Does this mean everything written for the Web needs to be homey and conversational?

To some degree, yes. That conversational tone is a convention of this medium. However, it's not suited to every topic, and that's where things fall into confusion. What the Web's conversational tone offers is approachability. There is a dark side, though, in that casual writing seems by nature less trustworthy than formal, academic writing. Given two similar articles on writing for the Web, for example, which would you trust more: this casual, conversational one or one with a formal, academic tone? The research behind each article might be the same, but the presentation will suggest otherwise.

Writing for different genres
Being true to the content also means understanding when to structure something as an information piece and when to structure it for exploration, discovery, or sensation. There are many beautiful bits of poetry and literature on the Web, but you would never know it. More often than not, these gems are in the wrong setting. They're simply dumped onto a screen without consideration of their purpose or nature. What should feel meditative or uplifting feels like reading a stock update.

Some writers are reaching beyond shovelware to explore how to frame web content in ways other than the information/archive model. Derek Powazek is one of them. Derek's site, the fray, features personal stories contributed by many writers. Derek takes great care in structuring and presenting these stories to their best effect. The stories are written for the Web, structured for the Web, and presented on the Web as unique creations.

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