"About Us" -- Presenting Information About an Organization on Its Website

Study participants searched websites for background information ranging from company history to management biographies and contact details. Their success rate was 70%, leaving much room for usability improvements in the 'About Us' designs.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Writing

Blah-Blah Text: Keep, Cut, or Kill?

Introductory text on Web pages is usually too long, so users skip it. But short intros can increase usability by explaining the remaining content's purpose.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Usability

Just Say No to Dead Fragments

A dead fragment of text is what's left after a usability expert has had his or her way with some perfectly good copy. The process works a little like this... First, take some great text that engages the reader on a number of levels. Here are a few words from Martin Luther King, Jr.: 'I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.' Now cut that back to make it more 'usable': 'Have sons judged by character and not color.' What are you left with? A brief, but dead, fragment. The substance of the communication remains, but the soul has been ripped out of it.

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Writing>Usability>Web Design

Long vs. Short Articles as Content Strategy

Information foraging shows how to calculate your content strategy's costs and benefits. A mixed diet that combines brief overviews and comprehensive coverage is often best.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Writing

Writing Style for Print vs. Web

Linear vs. non-linear. Author-driven vs. reader-driven. Storytelling vs. ruthless pursuit of actionable content. Anecdotal examples vs. comprehensive data. Sentences vs. fragments.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Usability

About Us Information on Websites

We found a 9% improvement in the usability of About Us information on websites over the past 5 years. But companies and organizations still can't explain what they do in one paragraph.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Writing

First Two Words: A Signal for the Scanning Eye

Testing how well people understand a link's first 11 characters shows whether sites write for users, who typically scan rather than read lists of items.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Usability

Los Usuarios no Nos Leen

Las normas básicas de como escribir un texto para web, vamos, lo que todo copywriter se sabe de carrerilla.

Copyzen (2009). (Spanish) Articles>Web Design>Usability>Writing

最初の2語：　流し読みのためのシグナル

リンクの最初の11文字がどれだけ理解されるかをテストすれば、そのサイトがユーザのために書かれたかものかどうかがわかる。ユーザというのはリストの項目を全部読む、というよりは、流し読みをするものだからだ。

Nielsen, Jakob. Usability.gr.jp (2009). (Japanese) Articles>Web Design>Writing>Usability