Style Guides
To assist campus units with maintaining a consistent level of writing quality, the University has developed its own University of Richmond Style Guide. This style guide is designed to assist those who are responsible for writing, editing or proofreading material for the University's publications. It includes information specific to the University as well as general writing guidelines and preferred usage for frequently encountered problems.
The University is in the process of revising the style guide to better assist you in writing for the Web, as well as print. In the coming months, this revision will be included among training materials and processes that will accompany the introduction of the University’s new content management system.
In the meantime, please refer to the information below for guidance on effectively writing for the Web.
Tips for Writing Web Content
Writing for the Web is different than writing for printed documents and publications. The reason: people read differently on the Web and have different expectations of the author. If those expectations are not quickly met, readers will go elsewhere.
Here are some important tips and resources to help you get your message across effectively online:
Keep it brief. Internet readers tend to scan text for important words and phrases, rather than reading word for word. Therefore, Web copy should be much shorter than what you would use in print. Readers will move on if the text is too long, since it makes scanning tedious.
Use simple sentence structures. Make sure each sentence says what you mean as directly as possible. Avoid long and complex sentences.
Arrange your content with the “F pattern” in mind. Studies have shown that Web readers tend to scan the first two paragraphs horizontally (and thus more thoroughly), and then scan down the left side of the page. The most important information should be in the first two paragraphs, with key words and phrases as close to the beginning of subsequent paragraphs as possible.
“Chunk” information: Arrange Web content into bite-sized, related groups of information where possible.
Limit each paragraph to one idea. If a scanning reader doesn’t find what he’s looking for in the first few words of a paragraph, he’ll move on to the next one.
Use bullet points. These are very helpful to readers who are scanning the page for main points. (Just make sure each point is very brief; more than a few sentences is a paragraph, not a bullet point.)
Use meaningful subheads. Clever or cryptic phrases don’t help readers find what they are looking for. Make your subheads clear to let readers know exactly what information is coming.
Use the “inverted pyramid” style. Rather than making several points and building up to a conclusion, state your main point outright and use the rest of your text to explain. (Think of newspaper articles; they tell you exactly what happened in the first few sentences and then go on to give details.)
Avoid words or phrases that are specific to Web use. Telling readers to “click here” or “go to this link” is awkward and unnecessary.
Use hypertext links. Utilizing links to other locations within your site helps with content organization and assists readers in finding the information they need. Additionally, links to outside sites that might be useful to readers lends credibility to your site.
Make each page within a site independent of the others. Write each page as a separate document. Don’t assume that readers have seen or read the rest of the site.
Here are some additional resources to help you learn more about writing for the Web:
www.content-strategy.com/
www.webstyleguide.com/style/online-style.html
www.webreference.com/content/writing/
www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/text.html
www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/