Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages

A study by John Morkes and Jakob Nielson.

 
“Web users generally prefer writing that is concise, easy to scan, and objective (rather than promotional) in style.” (Morkes and Nielson)

Though this sometimes makes writing for the web difficult, it’s true. When going to a web page, users don’t want to sift through a bunch of words to try to get the meaning. They prefer:

• direct writing
• headings
• bold or italics to emphasize key information

Users also find it annoying when a site is full of promotional writing, such as “this is the greatest product…!” It’s distracting and it can also call the integrity of a site into question if it can’t be supported.

“A common thread between conciseness, scannability, and objectivity is that each reduces the user’s cognitive load, which results in faster, more efficient processing of information.” (Morkes and Nielson)

A concise website is better because there is less “marketese” to annoy them and useless info to filter through. In addition, the scannable text will help call attention to key text.

Conclusion:

Because users aren't patient enough to read long text, they typically favor short text, even if some of the cut information may have been useful to others. Morkes' and Nielson's studies show that websites that are concise, scannable, and objective are superior to those that are not.