Writing for the Web

Objectives

Delegates will learn how to produce clear, readable on-line information and a greater understanding of how to write for the web.


Pre-requisites:

A desire to understand Web issues from a management viewpoint, with no necessary intention to develop hands-on production skills.


Course Includes:

A comprehensive set of reference notes covering course topics, follow-up telephone support and, for training on Transmedia premises, lunch and refreshments.


Course Outline


Identifying Goals


· Identifying your message
· Matching content to audience
· Boosting the reading experience
· Identifying writing strategies


Achieving "readability"


· "Hooking" and rewarding the reader
· Considerations of article length, readability and style
· Organising material; what to include and what to leave out
· Checking your website for common mistakes


Effective writing styles


· Conveying positive corporate qualities in your writing
· Using the right language; identifying the appropriate degree of formality; the active voice v. the passive voice
· Avoiding verbiosity and waffle; using short phrases and simple sentences
· Grammatical considerations
· Optimising your site for search engines; using keywords; catering for non-native English speakers


Writing for different parts of the site


· Writing for home pages
· Writing for summary pages
· Structuring "body" or general information pages







Approaches to formatting (brief)


· Achieving emphasis; using headings
· Using fonts appropriately
· Typography, colour, sizes and styles
· Catering for pages that print
· Achieving consistency across pages
· Graphics-based text; anti-aliasing; animated text
· Considering the benefits of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)


Repurposing content for the web


· Analysing existing content for structure and style
· Recap of print and web differences
· Technical issues of conversion and implications for workload and workflow
· What to cut out and what to leave in


Company specific advice (requires input from Company marketing/corporate depts)


· corporate policies
· Following guidelines
· Web-specific best practices