Introduction
Welcome to our April instalment of the Red Pony Express. For those of you reading the online version, you’ll also notice we have recently revamped and relaunched our website, with a little help from Chocolate Designs.
In this issue, Andrew provides some pointers on writing content specifically for the web, tips for weeding out florid prose, and finally he looks at a real-world example of how an otherwise innocuous term might potentially cause great offence, depending on who your audience is and where they are based.
Happy reading,
Peter
Writing for the web
Andrew Eather
For centuries literate humans have been consulting words on printed pages to absorb the knowledge of others.
Not any more, thanks to our omnipresent friend the internet.
We sometimes forget just what a leap it is for our brains to have to manage a seemingly limitless variety of font appearances and sizes dancing on constantly changing backgrounds.
While the goal in writing for the web is the same as for any other medium (convey your message clearly to your audience), there are a few differences to keep in mind.
Get to the point
We lead busy lives, and we don’t have time to waste.
That’s not an attitude you would normally associate with reading, but it encapsulates the critical distinction in writing for the web: it’s mostly for business, not for pleasure. And this is the main reason most people want to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.
Your writing style should be similar to that of a journalist. The first paragraph of a newspaper article is essentially the conclusion. It should give you the point of the story straight away. Journalists do this for the same reason web writers should: competition for readers’ attention is strong, so you must grab their attention immediately.
Specific strategies
Our attention spans are short enough, thanks to 50 years of television; now, they are minuscule. We scan the page for information and we don’t read every word. Use these strategies to catch roving eyes:
- Keep sentences under 15 words if possible.
- Try not to have more than three or four sentences in a paragraph.
- Use dot points or numbered lists to get essential information across.
- Make frequent use of short, descriptive headings and subheadings.
- Use bold for emphasis, not italics (and don’t underline – this can be confused with link style).
- Start with the most important information. Never leave important information at the bottom of the page where visitors who don’t scroll down will miss it.
- Basic text font size should be at least 10 points and preferably 12.
- Headings should be between 12 and 16 points.
- Use one simple font for basic text (Arial or Calibri are easy to read).
- You can use a slightly more elaborate font for headings, as these are larger.
- Use links to channel secondary information away to other pages.
Rogue adjectives and adverbs
Andrew Eather
After wading through the fragrant fields of florid prose that can be the unmistakeable hallmark of some popular fiction, you may think overuse of adjectives and adverbs wouldn’t be such an issue in the drab world of business writing. Well… you’d be right, up to a point.
While you’re unlikely to pick up an annual report filled with words such as ‘breathlessly’, ‘palpitating’ or ‘starstruck’, you may find a variety of less spectacular modifiers and qualifiers seeding your writing that can be an indicator of deeper problems.
When we’re unsure of our argument, we betray ourselves with the qualifiers and modifiers with which we unconsciously sprinkle our prose.
It’s a valuable exercise to review a piece of your writing and circle the following words:
- really
- very
- mostly
- often
- pretty
- just
- simply
- basically
- virtually
- some
- usually
- about
Ask yourself, ‘Are they really necessary?’
Was ‘really’ necessary in the previous sentence?
Not really.
I mean, ‘no’.
Their presence can be an indication of CYA writing or ‘cover your a*se’. Admittedly, in the real world this can be a sad necessity, but recognise that clarity and directness will be the casualties.
These words can also indicate that you don’t understand your topic well enough – or have enough accurate information about it. Remedy? Further research...
Think of them as a helpful sign. Your goal is to weed them out, but you can’t do that until you’ve addressed the underlying problem of how they got in there in the first place.
Anytime you can weed out these unnecessary qualifiers, do so.
Document localisation
Andrew Eather
Last month the New South Wales police got themselves into a spot of bother in their dealings with the US State Department. They had developed a detailed security plan for President Obama’s forthcoming (now postponed) visit to Australia and had named it ‘Operation Bluegum’.
Like all police operations it was named by a database matching program that randomly links up a selection of adjectives and nouns to produce a bland descriptor for the operation.
Unfortunately for them, ‘bluegum’ is a derogatory term for a ‘work-shy African-American’ in US slang. Ouch.
By all accounts it was an innocent slip, but it precipitated a major hush-up operation on both sides of the Pacific in which most (but obviously not all) of the fallout was contained.
What’s the lesson? Know your audience. Especially if a document is to have international exposure, it pays to carry out ‘document localisation’, in which the document is edited with specific sensitivity to another English-speaking market. This can involve identifying catastrophic missteps such as ‘bluegum’ but more commonly involves removing local idiosyncrasies that may be confusing or ambiguous to an overseas reader. In such instances, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure.
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