When writing material<\/p>\n
- \n
- the first paragraph on a page needs to be the conclusion; this is the opposite way around to ‘normal’ writing – the attention span of readers on the web is low, you need to snare them and reel them in straight away otherwise the message is lost<\/li>\n
- the first sentence of a paragraph should say what the paragraph is about (see above)<\/li>\n
- make your page scannable<\/strong>:\n
- \n
- use highlighting <\/strong>for key issues but don’t overdo it, readers often only scan the headings, highlighted text and hyper-links<\/li>\n
- use bullet-point lists<\/strong><\/li>\n
- make it concise <\/strong>– web readers have less patience\n
- \n
- keep it short – 15-20 words per sentence<\/li>\n
- keep it simple<\/li>\n
- cut the waffle<\/li>\n
- focus on the action – use active voice not passive voice: “dog bit man” is active “man was bitten by dog” is passive<\/li>\n
- focus on the reader – use appropriate language, be positive, remove all ambiguity<\/li>\n
- get it right – use correct punctuation and spelling, this gives the reader confidence<\/li>\n
- make it look good – use images, subtle use of colour, use sans serif fonts\n
- \n
- when using the WYSIWYG HTML editor in WebLearn always start a page from a template (click the
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/weblearn.ox.ac.uk\/access\/content\/public\/help\/fckedit\/images\/fck-template.jpg\")
button)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n - use meaningful and correctly nested headings<\/strong> (this is also very important for accessibility)\n
- \n
- the first two words of a heading are the most important: use “Diana killed in car crash” not “Car crash kills Diana”<\/li>\n
- use content specific words at the start of a heading: use “Hurricanes – general information” not “General information about hurricanes”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- have one idea<\/strong> per paragraph<\/li>\n
- have 2-3 sentences per paragraph<\/strong><\/li>\n
- put the conclusion first <\/strong>– make it concise
\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n- make your pages accessible (this is a legal requirement for educational material)<\/li>\n
- use consistent terminology<\/li>\n
- think about what the reader needs to know not what you want to tell them<\/li>\n
- use browser plug-ins to help authoring (or develop the text in Word first but remember to take care when pasting into a WYSIWYG HTML editor – see below)<\/li>\n
- if you are developing a series of pages then make sure navigation is included, Dreamweaver will help you do this; breadcrumb menus help here\n
- \n
- use spell check and grammar check<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- Usability guru Jakob Neilson’s http:\/\/useit.com\/<\/a> website<\/li>\n
- ITLP courses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Using Word to Author text<\/h2>\n
It is a good idea to prepare your text in Word but do not paste this directly into a WYSIWYG HTML editor<\/strong>, if you do this the resultant web page will be a complete dogs breakfast with all sorts of unwanted mark-up being stored behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
When using Word:<\/p>\n
- \n
- use the spell check and grammar check<\/li>\n
- use Tools > Options > Spelling > Readability Statistics to report on use of passive voice<\/li>\n
- don’t worry about highlighting, formatting and layout<\/li>\n
- copy the text with a mouse and post into a plain text editor such as Notepad<\/strong><\/li>\n
- copy the text from Notepad <\/strong>and paste into the WYSIWYG HTML editor –<\/strong> this will remove all the garbage that Word inserts behind the scenes<\/li>\n
- format the text in the WYSIWYG HTML editor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Useful links<\/h2>\n
Usability<\/h3>\n
- \n
- Visit ‘Usability Guru’ Jakob Neilson\u2019s http:\/\/useit.com\/<\/a> website<\/li>\n
- Visit http:\/\/usability.gov\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Style Guide<\/h3>\n
- \n
- refer to the University’s style guide<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Accessibility<\/h3>\n
- \n
- Special Needs And Disability Act (SENDA)<\/a><\/li>\n
- Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)<\/a><\/li>\n
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Grammar and Spelling etc.<\/h3>\n
- \n
- http:\/\/www.editcentral.com\/gwt1\/EditCentral.html<\/a><\/li>\n
- use the Oxford English Dictionary<\/a> – the University has a subscription<\/li>\n
- read “Eats Shoots and Leaves” by Lynne Truss<\/a><\/li>\n
- read “Rediscover Grammar” by David Crystal<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I attended an ITLP Writing for the Web course in OUCS yesterday and thought I’d share some tips I picked up. Before you start your web page or website you should do the following: clarify the objective – write this … Continue reading
- use the Oxford English Dictionary<\/a> – the University has a subscription<\/li>\n
- Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)<\/a><\/li>\n
- Special Needs And Disability Act (SENDA)<\/a><\/li>\n
- Visit http:\/\/usability.gov\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- copy the text from Notepad <\/strong>and paste into the WYSIWYG HTML editor –<\/strong> this will remove all the garbage that Word inserts behind the scenes<\/li>\n
- ITLP courses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Usability guru Jakob Neilson’s http:\/\/useit.com\/<\/a> website<\/li>\n
- have 2-3 sentences per paragraph<\/strong><\/li>\n
- when using the WYSIWYG HTML editor in WebLearn always start a page from a template (click the
- use bullet-point lists<\/strong><\/li>\n
- use highlighting <\/strong>for key issues but don’t overdo it, readers often only scan the headings, highlighted text and hyper-links<\/li>\n