What processes must we go through to ensure our onscreen writing measures up?
Experience shows that several editing stages are needed:
Structuring - Lengthy text needs to be broken down into manageable sections. Then these chunks further broken down into shorter chunks - perhaps identifying material that would be better placed on linked pages.
Word editing – Superfluous content needs to be deleted. Words need to be carefully chosen to simplify readability. Reading between the lines should not be necessary, the meaning must be abundantly clear. Choice of words and spelling must match corporate style and web guidelines.
Text styling – Copy needs to be styled to aid page scanning. This helps the reader rapidly assimilate the content - using bullets, emboldening and many other typographical tricks.
Writers need to give their own time in order to save the time of their readers
Final draft – As with writing for print, it is helpful to review the first draft and hone the copy to perfection. It is often helpful to do this a day or so later so that you see it in a fresh light.
Read through and sub-edit – It's good practice to pass the copy to a colleague, preferably another editor to approve or sub-edit the item. Corporate web standards and agreed spellings need to be double checked too.
Usability testing – This needs to be carried out to ensure that people can easily navigate and access site content. They will check to ensure that the text is readable and that the eye is not distracted by other page elements.
The conclusion most people reach after our courses is that effective onscreen writing is far more demanding than they had ever imagined. Writers need to give their own time in order to save the time of their readers. The extra effort will be rewarded by more effective communication.