Interesting Tips and Style Studies for Web Writers

Writing for the Web

Research on how users read on the Web and how authors should write their Web pages.

Writing for the Web

Research on how users read on the Web and how authors should write their Web pages.

Short summary of the original findings: How users read on the Web
How little do users read? — users spend 4.4 seconds for every extra 100 words on a page
F-shaped pattern for reading web content, as seen in eyetracking studies
Eyetracking of people reading email newsletters
Low-literacy users exhibit different behaviors
PR and press releases on corporate websites (103 design guidelines based on usability studies of how journalists visit company sites)
Writing style for print vs. Web
Blah-blah text: Keep, cut, or kill?
Email newsletters (165 design guidelines: scannability even more important than for websites)
Writing transactional email and confirmation messages
Teenagers on the Web: poor reading skills and low patience levels mean that text has to be ultra-concise for teens and that more information must be communicated in images
Tagline blues: what's the site about?
Passive voice is redeemed for Web headings