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COMM 313, Editorial Processes
Instructor: Ross Collins, North Dakota State University, Fargo

Editing for the web

Good writing is the exception rather than the rule on the web. Why? Probably many webmasters do not come from writing backgrounds, but from computer or design backgrounds, so don't have much experience. Learning to write well is hard. Also, I think people have the idea that they can be sloppy, because it's so easy to fix on the web compared with publications. But credibility still suffers with poor quality writing on the web, and as bad, people won't read bad writing on the web any more than in print.

In fact, they may be less likely to read bad text on the web. Preparing words for a computer screen is different from a publication. The screen is at a coarser resolution than even poor quality newsprint--computer screens are generally about 72 pixels per inch (ppi). This means text is slightly fuzzy. And that means it gets hard to read, and eyes get tired. That's one reason people tend to print long passages of text from a web site.

Of course, generally reading longer articles off a computer screen is less comfortable than reading them in a magazine as well, even with a laptop. It's true that screen resolution is likely to improve, and we do have flat panel book-like computers to read from, but generally, at least today, it is more difficult to read text on the web than in publication.

Web text less likely to be carefully edited

It's also more likely that the text is less well edited. Editing procedures have been developed over the hundreds of years that printed words have existed. The web has been around as a mainstream medium not even two decades. A lot of text is thrown up on the web with little regard to how people pull information off a computer screen, what they like to read, and what turns them off. It seems editors will carefully go over material designed for print, but less likely to do it if its designed for the net.

In fact, although it's less common than in the past, a lot of publications with companion web sites will simply throw the articles from the printed product on the web site without editing again for the new medium, a technique we call "shovelware." It certainly saves time, but doesn't consider that the web is a different medium from print.

How important is it to edit text for the web? We think of the web as a visual medium, and it is, but that visual medium is filled mostly with words. About 80 percent of material on the web is words. Eighty percent--that's more words than a lot of printed publications out there. We really do need editors for web-based content, and they need to better understand how people read on the web.

About usability

Jakob Neilsen is one of several well-known researchers who has done extensive work on how people look at web sites, called usability studies. Some people criticize him for neglecting the power of images and graphics, but much of his research is useful to editors working in this medium.

Vincent Flanders also has emphasized the importance of compelling written material written accessibly. He notes people just don't have the kind of patience on the net that they might have for a printed publication. A user might take 30 seconds to review a home page, Flanders notes, and they don't generally like to scroll. Bad grammar and spelling will turn them off right away--credible companies have well-edited web sites, he emphasizes.

So, the truth is that web sites need editors certainly as much as printed products, probably more. But what they get is less, due to the newness of the medium, perhaps, or the perception that on-line consumers are more hip and used to spelling and grammar errors in emails, so therefore don't mind them on web sites. Research shows this is not true, however.

So beyond the general knowledge of good editing, what's different about editing for the web?

Type examples.People skim

It begins with the realization that more than printed products, people skim content on the web. They are less likely to read word for word, but try to extract information quickly. This means editors have to prepare content for this kind of reader. As well, people expect the web to be interactive--after all, that's the power of what we call non-linear presentation of information. Linear presentation means you begin at page one, or line one, and read through to the end, just the way the writer and editor wants you to take in the information. Non-linear presentation means you have a choice. You can take side-trips for more information, through links, so that you can consume a product more tailored to your personal needs.

That suggests that you do indeed need to have links in your text. More than that, you need the links in the text, as part of the material, and generally not separated into a link list.

Also, on-line readers expect shorter material. They generally don't like to read more than about 700-1,000 words of text in one window, and 50 percent may not scroll to see more text.(For comparison, this lecture weighs in at 1,084 words.) Does this mean you can't have longer stories on the web? No, but you need to break them up with links and subheads.

Headings and sub-headings--the internet version of headlines and subheads--help orient a reader who is scanning text, and help to pull him or her into a story. So do shorter sentences, and, of course, compelling leads. Shorter paragraphs and bulleted text help to break up a formidable looking text-heavy web page, making it more inviting. Of course, pictures and graphics also help.

So in short, here are some special tips for editing web-based content:

As for text styles, research seems to show people prefer sans serif typefaces for web-based articles, unlike printed articles, in which serif faces are preferred. Verdana is a common sans serif face designed for web viewing, just as georgia is a common serif face designed for the web. Note: this text is written in verdana.