Writing and Design Tips for the Web
The Need for A Special "Web" Style

  • Studies have shown that reading from computer screens is about 25 percent slower than reading from paper.
     
  • Reading from a computer screen is more uncomfortable than reading from a printed page.
     
  • Individual web pages to a certain extent float as independent entities out there in cyber space. There is no guarantee that readers are going to read your pages in the order you hope or expect.

Tips for Web Writing and Design

  • Each page is independent -Think about each page as an independent page when thinking of content. Don't assume that a reader has read the other pages you expected them to read.
     
  • Keep pages focused - Keep the information on any particular page focused on a particular topic in order to keep the page as short as possible.
     
  • Try the inverted pyramid - Consider using what journalists call the "inverted pyramid" when organizing the content of each page: Get the point of what you want to say (i.e. the most important information) in your first paragraph, then fill in with information and details, like they do in many newspaper stories.
     
  • Simple language - Keep your language and content simple and concise.
     
  • Short paragraphs - Use short paragraphs to visually break up material to make the text less intimidating.
     
  • Use subheads - Use headlines and subheads to guide readers through the information and to help them find the information they need.
     
  • Use bullets - Use bulleted or numbered lists to point out important details.
     
  • Watch out for too many hyperlinks - Avoid putting too many hyperlinks in the paragraphs of your text because they interrupt the flow of reading and distract from your message. If you need to direct people to a number of other sources by way of hyperlinks, put them in a special section on the page or create an entire page with a list of hyperlinks for easy reference.
     
  • Avoid "Click here ..." - The words "Click here for..." are usually not necessary. Users know they have to click to get somewhere and can tell what's clickable by our hyperlink color. Linked text titled "Directions to UNE" looks more professional than "Click here for directions to UNE."  More importantly, for purposes of the ADA guidelines, webpage readers identify links. By providing links with descriptive texts, you are providing specific information about the link to assist the reader with the disability (i.e. "click here" gives no information about the link; "Directions to UNE" provides information about the link).

Simple Tips for Writing for Search Engines

  • Types of search engines - There are two types of search engines that you should probably consider when creating pages: (1) our internal search engine that helps visitors to the website find what they are looking for; and (2) external search engines, such as Google.
     
  • General tips - Various search engines use different criteria for indexing webpages, and those criteria often change. But here are some general tips to help your pages come up high on search engines.
     
  • Keywords - Think about the keywords, such as "Maine,"  that someone would probably type in to the search engine to find your page.
     
  • Keywords in text are key - For many search engines, such as Google,  the text on each page is very important. You should make sure you work your keywords into the text of each page, especially your home page. It's best to work the keywords into your text more than once - several times if possible.
     
  • Alt tags - The Liquid Matrix CMS allows you to write alt tags (descriptive captions that only show up in some browsers when you roll or hover your curser over the photo) for your photos. Try to work your important keywords into your photo alt tags. These alt tags count as text in search engines.
     
  • Get other websites to link to your pages - Google also gives a great deal of priority to webpages that similar websites have linked to. For example, if the National Association of Nurses, the American Organization for Registered Nurses, and the Maine Association of Nurses link to your Nursing Department webpage, that page would probably come up higher in Google than some other nursing department webpage that has no links to it.  So think about other institutions and organizations that would naturally want to link to your department homepage, and ask them to do it.
     
  • Metatags - Although it is generally thought that Google pays little or no attention to keywords in the html metatags, the UNE website's search engine does look at the metatag keywords. Currently, the Liquid Matrix CMS Step 5 (used for creating and editing pages) defaults to a standard set of keywords descriptive of UNE in general and all its programs. But CMS users have the option to enter particular keywords for the metatags in Step 5. We suggest that you customize Step 5 to the keywords that best describe the content of your page. This will help that page come up higher in the UNE website search engine when visitors are looking for that page.
     
  • Page titles - It is also important in Liquid Matrix CMS Step 5 to give your page a good descriptive page title. This will help the page come up high in both external and internal search engines.

   
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