Service & Support: Usability

Content Development & Writing for the Web

Given that M3iworks was founded as a writing company 23 years ago, we definitely “get” the importance of clear, understandable, well-written content. Writing for the web, however, is distinctly different than writing for print. We consistently follow three best-practice guidelines in creating effective web content.

Writing for the Web

Be succinct

Human factors research reveals that reading at the computer screen is typically 25% slower than reading on paper, and that website viewers indicate they are uncomfortable reading online. M3iworks’ approach is to present only 50% of the content we would present in printed materials, enhancing both reading speed and user experience.

ALT text should help blind users (and others who can't see images) navigate and operate the site. The text should describe the image's meaning for the interaction and what users need to know about the image to use the site most effectively. Short is good when writing for the Web; it's even better when writing for screen readers.

Write for “scannability”

Given that reading text online is difficult and that the experience tends to foster impatience, users do not typically read long, streaming pages of text. Instead, usability studies confirm that users scan text and pick out keywords, sentences and paragraphs of interest, and skip over text less interesting to them. M3iworks’ approach is to structure content with two and three levels of headlines, use meaningful rather than “cute” headings, and include highlighting and other emphasizing techniques for content that should capture the user’s interest.

Use links to break up content into multiple pages

While brevity and scannability are critical, it is equally important to avoid sacrificing the depth of content a site can or should provide. M3iworks uses hypertext links to shorten text on the page and divide information into multiple pages. Each page can be succinct while relegating long and detailed information to secondary pages. Thorough audience analysis is necessary to enable content to be organized into topic “chunks,” as opposed to simply breaking up a long, single flow of detailed information.