#25489
What's Really Going On With the Blogosphere? 
Explores the notion of the blogosphere by using recent studies to soberly refocus the actual size of the blogosphere and the extent of the blogging phenomenon.
Vieta, Marcelo. Digest (2003). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging
#26135
When is a Long Document Not a Long Document?
Change is upon us, whether we like it or not. HTML is the default technology for accessible documents online according to the W3C and most government standards. That means goodbye to the easy solution of flinging scores of long documents on to a web site as Word or PDF files.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Standards
#21147
When The Title Ain't Good: How PC Magazine Failed
If you try a bait and switch tactic on your web site and you are trying to sell to customers, you will fail. You must provide the right information to people. You have to exceed their expectations.Sales follow the delivery of solid, respected content.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Design>Web Design>Writing
#28837
When You Write a Site Build It Web Page, Give It The "Help a Friend Test"
Acting in your capacity as a friend, as well as an expert, you would probably ask a few questions first, just to be sure you really understand the problem. And when you did start offering some advice, you would want to be helpful. You would want to offer some genuine guidance. And if you did have some services you could offer, you would recommend only those services that were directly relevant to the problem.
Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing
#28820
A designer formats and places text. Technically, the job ends there. But some designers go further, sharpening their clients' content to grab and focus user attention. In so doing, they create more effective sites--and gain an advantage over other designers. Drawing on decades of copywriter lore, Shaun Crowley discusses seduction by headline and other principles of writing that sells.
Crowley, Shaun. List Apart, A (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing
#25552
There are, I'm sure, as many reasons to keep weblogs as there are weblogs authors, however, some common threads surely exist between them. What could motivate someone to keep a public journal of their innermost thoughts? What possible reasons would someone have?
Indiana State University (2002). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging
#31605
Winning Content Persuades, Not Manipulates
Elements of persuasion are important to creating winning content. To help safeguard content from becoming manipulation, we need to understand its distinction from persuasion. As a step toward that understanding, this article: provides basic definitions of persuasion and manipulation; explores the key differences between them; and describes some consequences for UX content.
Jones, Colleen. UXmatters (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Rhetoric
#26147
Some main points submitted by readers about writing for intranets, in quotation marks or paraphrased.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>Writing
#25589
Women and Children Last: The Discursive Construction of Weblogs
As yet there has been little empirical examination of the claim that blogs are 'democratic,' or that blog authors represent diverse demographic groups.
Herring, Susan C., Inna Kouper, Lois Ann Scheidt and Elijah L. Wright. Into the Blogosphere (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging
#22663
Pundits say people don't read on the web. Baloney. You're reading this, aren't you? Don't be fooled into nothing but bullet points. People will read a lot, you just need to know how to write for them, and how to make your words easy to read.
Will-Harris, Daniel. Typofile (2003). Design>Web Design>Writing
#24140
Words: The Last, Best Way to Differentiate Yourself Online
Writing is a subject that doesn't crop up too often at conferences. Why not? ecause writing is not one of the sexy things that happens online. Programming is sexy. Online design is sexy. The technology behind e-mail and e-commerce is sexy.
Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Writing>Diction>Web Design
#14569
World Wide Web Publishing of Technical Information
This course will prepare students to: * identify and discuss principles of design and information architecture that apply to web pages and web sites * evaluate the design and architecture of existing web sites and recommend appropriate revisions * design different types of pages and sites * test the usability of pages and sites * use appropriate software to implement effective and ethical decisions regarding the design and architecture of sites
Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (1999). Academic>Courses>Web Design>Writing
#28974
Write Articles, Not Blog Postings
To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing
#24141
Write Copy that Directs the Site Visitor Forward
The copy or content on a page often comes to an end without having communicated the need to move forward now.
Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2001). Articles>Web Design>Writing
#31741
When you read something interesting online, you can submit the article’s link to WriterRiver.com through the Submit a Story tab. Everything that looks like a post on WriterRiver.com is really just a link to an article online.
WriterRiver. Resources>Web Design>Technical Writing>Social Networking
#27422
Writing a Good Accessibility Statement
Accessibility statements are an ideal place to empower visitors to your website. Most accessibility statements are too technical, and don't necessarily address the needs of the visitor. Those that do address the needs of visitors often have the information lost in a myriad of other information that is unlikely to be understood by the average visitor to the website. What should and shouldn't be included in an accessibility statement?
Lemon, Gez. Juicy Studio (2006). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Writing
#19020
Periodic sentences are long, complex sentences, often with several introductory clauses, in which the main point is delayed for dramatic effect. They're like gourmet meals that build to a flaming dessert: extravagant, delicious, climactic. But they don't belong on Web sites, because they can't be scanned -- and 79 percent of readers on the Web scan.
Henning, Kathy. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Writing>Web Design
#25899
Writing for the web is really not that much different than writing for print. But you have to remember that since it can be more difficult to read on-screen, you have to take special care to make it easier on your readers.
Will-Harris, Daniel. EFuse (2004). Design>Web Design>Writing
#18929
Writing for the Web is different than writing for other media. But, it can be a very cost-effective way of making sure people know about your services and products.
#31818
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to several new writing genres that are based on "Web 2.0" technology, which include mostly database-driven websites such as blogs, wikis, and virtual environments. These sites are designed to facilitate collaboration and discussion, rather than the one-to-many model of the typical website in which readers do not participate beyond reading or viewing material. Although many of these technologies are used for entertainment, they are also finding their way into professional settings. For instance, a game such as Second Life might be adapted for use in the workplace, allowing employees at distant locations to occupy the same virtual space and model behaviors or objects that would be impractical in physical space.
Barton, Matt. MattBarton.net (2008). Academic>Courses>Web Design>Writing
#31132
This free 35-page guide outlines seven challenges every writer and copywriter faces when writing for the Web.
Usborne, Nick. FreeIQ (2007). Books>Web Design>Writing
#24163
Writing for the Web Versus Writing for Print: Are They Really So Different? 
Writing for the Web is often presented as being fundamentally different from writing for print. However, a review of the literature relating to Web writing and print writing shows that many of the guidelines proposed for the Web have a long history in print. For example, key Web writing guidelines such as 'write for scannability,' 'write for restless readers,' and 'write in coherent chunks' can be found in the literature about print. The guidelines for writing on the Web are extensions of the guidelines for print writing, rather than new ideas. Instead of comparing writing at the level of communication medium by contrasting the Web and print, it may be more helpful for writers to use genre to compare writing styles. This would involve using communication purpose and form as the basis of any comparison, with the communication medium being secondary.
Gregory, Judy. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing
#19621
Writing for the Web: Illustration of the Need
Many on-line web tutorials give practical, useful technical advice on everything from non-clashing color combinations to effective uses of animated GIFs, but barely mention writing at all. There seems to be an unspoken assumption that the content will be supplied by the marketing and PR people, by the technoweenies, or worse, the pointy-haired bosses (of 'Dilbert' fame).
Jerz, Dennis G. Seton Hill University (1998). Articles>Writing>Web Design
#20111
Writing for the Web: Keeping Them Coming Back
The number of people who visit your Web site is not as critical to its success as the number who return. How do you write and design pages to bring them back?
Yeo, Sarah C. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Web Design>Writing
#23087
Writing for the Web: Letting Go of the Words
Explains that users who seek technical information from the Web want to find what they need and understand what they find as quickly as possible. Offers guidelines for writing Web content that supports these goals.
Redish, Janice C. 'Ginny'. Intercom (2004). Design>Web Design>Writing
