Online content is anything you read or look at from a digital device. That might be emails, webpages and reports. It also includes things like social media posts, videos, podcasts, maps, graphs and tables.
Most of the time, people tend to read content from their phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer, even though we could print something out if we really needed to.
Reading on digital devices is different
When people read online, they’re scanning the text much more quickly than they would if they were reading a novel, say. That’s because we’re typically much more task-focused when we’re online: we have something that we’re trying to do. That might be gather some information or complete a task and it makes us much more impatient to get through text.
When we read online, we scan the text much more quickly than we would if we were reading a novel, say. That’s because we’re typically much more task-focused when we’re online: we have something that we’re trying to do. That might be gather some information or pay for something and it makes us much more impatient.
It's also more difficult to read online - brainpower is used up searching, navigating and decoding symbols. The bright screen is tiring because we tend to blink less often when we look at a computer. People will avoid long stretches of text and try to cherry pick the smallest bit of text that looks like it will meet their need.
Although you will have written many types of content - emails, guidance, reports - when it comes to writing specifically for digital reading, it's worth bearing a few extra things in mind.
Structure is important
People tend to scan through online content, skipping whole sentences and paragraphs, so think about the structure of the content.
Put the most important content at the top. That might be the conclusion of a report, or an instruction that must be followed. Don't put that down at the bottom because people can - and do - stop reading before they've reached the end.
Think: if someone only reads two paragraphs - what will they get from this content? And what will they miss?
It’s about more than just writing
Writing for the web is often called ‘content design’ as it takes into account:
- how people read online
- what people are looking to do (their user needs)
- how they found the information and what else they’ll need to do (their user journey)
- any data about the audience
- accessibility considerations
- style guide and tone of voice
Clear language is a must
One way we can make our content more accessible is by thinking about the words we use and making sure we're not making things sound complicated. Avoid using jargon and technical words when you don't need to. Go for the simpler, everyday words over the longer ones, such as 'details' instead of 'particulars'. Avoid using cliches and look out for repetition. The Plain English Campaign has a guide on writing more clearly and a list of alternative words which is useful.
Make the text easy to read
Think about how your content looks on the page - there should be lots of paragraph breaks and subheadings to help people as they scan through the content. Other ways to make sure your content is easy to read include:
- using bullet points where you can
- making sure your sentences are under 25 words
- keeping paragraphs short (no more than 5 sentences)
- writing for people with the reading age of a 9 year old
Use an online editor to help you
There are lots of tools that can help you with your writing, such as the Hemingway editor. When you paste your text into it, you’ll see suggestions as to how you can improve the language and make it easier to read.
People have all sorts of differing access needs: they may be dyslexic, or use a screen reader to help them use a computer. Or maybe they are under a lot of stress, which is having an impact on how much they can understand.
The average reading age in the UK is 9 years old (that means the vocabulary size, not education level) and more than 4 million people in the UK have English as a second language. That's 1 in 13 people.
Accessibility means that people can do what they need to do in a similar amount of time and effort as someone that does not have a disability. It means that people are empowered, can be independent, and will not be frustrated by something that is poorly designed or implemented. Alistair Duggin, What we mean when we talk about accessibility.
Yes you can - and these are often built into software such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
PDFs tend to be much less accessible for people, so if you can, turn content into web pages so more people can use them.