1. A short guide to understand thereading ofand write for the internet
By
Catherine Gibbons
How to Read the Web

2. How doreaders read the Web?
79 % of viewers scan the page looking for key words when reading a web page
16% of viewers read the web page, word for word.
What does this mean?
If the average web page has 593 words, the average reader only reads about 111 wordsor about28%of the text
3. How do readers read the web?
People dont read the web page they scan for the key ideas
They are looking for individual words and sentences
Therefore keyideas and information need to be in the two top paragraphs of the web pages.
4. The reading pattern
Readers tend to read in a Fast pattern,
The F pattern can be seen as a serious of patterns
Horizontal Movements- across the upper part of the page of the text
Second Horizontal Movement- move down the page a bit and then read across
Vertical horizontal Movement- scanning the content left of the page systematically.
5. An image of the F Pattern
6. The F pattern.
What does this imply:
That the reader wont read the text thoroughly
That the first two paragraphs must then state the key arguments
Start subheading , paragraphs and bullet points with information words
Ex: Lady Gaga makes her catwalk debut , Global food prices hit new record (good) VS. Vancouver Island night club penalizedfor unlawful stripper behavior, Charlie Sheens goddess focus oncustody battle (bad)
7. How to write for the web
Whenwriting for this audience, one wants to stay away from long sentencesand generic writing. one does not need that welcome to the page sentence.
what do you do:
1) High light key words
2) These words need to be meaningful , with accurate subheadings
3) Lists
4) One idea/ concept perparagraph
5)Start with the conclusion at the beginning of the writing
6) Half the word count
8. How to write for the web??
One of the best websites that employs the tactics forinternet writing is the BBC.
The BBC titles are usually between 5 words in length and 34 characters long
Why
The wording is short and to the point
Its rich in information
The most important keywords are visible
Itisunderstandable when out of context
Predictable- do I want to read on,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
http://www.vancouversun.com/
9. What about credibility?????
It is important to note although the reader is reading online, they still want their sources tobe creditable
Graphs , good writing and links to other outbound hypertext links help to establishthe pages credibility
10. The Research Study:
25 web users were monitoredin this study, these users were completely naturalistic, meaning that the usersdid not have to change their behavior
These users were above average intelligence and might slightly impact the outcome
What was the outcome ?
-the Back Button is now only the3rd most-used feature
-the clicking of the hyper text is the most used feature
- the clicking of buttons was overtaken by the Backbutton
11. The facts of the real life reading
10,163 page views (17%) that lasted less than 4 seconds. In such brief "visits," users clearly bounced right out without truly "using" the page.
2,615 page views (4%) that lasted more than 10 minutes. In these cases, users almost certainly left the browser open while doing something else.
1,558 page views (3%) with fewer than 20 words on them. Such pages are probably server errors or disrupted downloads.
Conclusion: An average web page has between 30-1250 words and for every extra 100 words a page has it takes 4.4 seconds to read.
12. Does ones literary level affect the reading of the web?
Answer is yes.
People are divided into two groups:
13. The reader:
One has to keep in mind,whenwriting for the web, to write in a simplistic manner and around a 6 grade reading level.
Remember:
Prioritize information
Avoid text that moves or changes
Streamline the page design
Simplify navigation
Optimize search
14. Discussion Questions
Can you think of an example of a web site that you feel is easy for readers to read?
Do you feel that as our society becomes more dependent on the web, that traditionalbooks will become obsolete?Is the I-pad and Kobo affecting this shift?
15. Work Cited:
BBC Canada http://www.bbccanada.com/
Retrieved onMarch 1st, 2011
Writing for the web http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/
Retrieved on March 1st 2011