 WEB NEWS WRITING GUIDE
By
Cleland Thom, (Author) CTJL Ltd 2008.
Reviewed by Nicholas Newman
Cleland
Thom's ‘Web News Writing Guide’ is a best practice guide for people responsible
for the layout and content of websites.
Too
often, website designers have an understandable, but false tendency to
concentrate on the appearance of a website and how ingenious they are in using
the latest web technology.
The
internet is full of websites with irritating animations and pointless
interactive flash movies for instance. These features have a tendency to deter
visitors, and even in these days of high speed broadband slow down the loading
of the site.
Often such fabulous looking sites sacrifice the functional utility and
navigational accessibility of a website at a cost for its appearance, forgetting
that the written
content of a site
should be its primary purpose.
 Cleland
Thom clearly tackles these problems and provides guidance on their solution. He
confirms that there are many in the media industry that are either ignorant or
not listening to advice on what makes a good newspaper or magazine website in
terms of layout and content. If they did, no doubt they would benefit from the
increased visitor traffic and resultant increase in advertising revenue that
is currently
dwindling.
Cleland's analysis of what makes a good or bad site in terms of layout and word
content will prove useful. Though, where I will disagree with him is that web
text should be suitable for people with a reading age of 10. Here it depends on
the market the website publication is aimed at.
If
the readership is for a tabloid news website like the Sun or Mirror, I would
agree. But for a specialist business to business website where the markets
literacy level is expected to be at least at a graduate literacy level then a
higher level is essential.
His
very useful tips about using websites that analyze your writing to see if it is
meeting the required literacy levels of your target market, should prove
invaluable to most writers. On other matters, I was in agreement over such
issues as how people read websites quite differently from reading a printed
newspaper or magazine, and his suggested solutions for making content more
comfortable and readable for website users, should encourage more repeat
business and further exploration of your website.
Unfortunately this guide has missed out on providing advice on making these
sites more easily readable for the vision impaired and accessing via displays
like mobile phones or sub notebook computers like the Assus Eee or OLPC XO-1
which require being able to enlarge text in order to read it.
There was also no mention of the use of images that may look suitable on a large
printed page, but turn out when compressed, to look like dark unreadable blocs.
Sometimes it is better to change the image or use clip art instead to get your
point over. Moreover, I was surprised that there was no advice on how to
integrate the often tough requirements of advertisers have on location of
adverts with the overall needs of a web publication with the full functionality
required by customers.
For
local newspapers, often owned by large media chains, where the layout is
centrally determined, there is little a local editor can do, except follow
Thom’s excellent advice on creating suitable word content and text layout.
Alternatively, send a copy of Cleland's guide to the people responsible for
layout to consult?
Cleland sparked my interest by such nostrums as ‘research shows that people read
more on pages that have less on them ' but I would have liked to have known the
source for such a statement.
Suggested Improvements
Excellent though it is, in my view the Guide needs further refinement, as
follows:
·
In terms of
layout, the document is written as a web article, but most users would prefer
the layouts made popular in the ‘For Dummies' series. It certainly needs a
cover, a table of contents and the illustrated examples should be directly
referred to in the text and the illustrations annotated.
·
In terms of
text, the key points need to be highlighted or enlarged, in order to attract the
attention of the reader.
·
There needs
to be information about his highly regarded ‘Web Writing Course' for those
wishing to improve their skills.
·
Lastly, it
is too short at only 21 pages; there is clearly a need in the market for Cleland
Thom to produce a proper in depth guide to Web Site News Writing.
Would I recommend it?
Yes,
I would recommend it to a fellow professional. This guide provides invaluable
information that should help boost a news site's functionality and fortune in
these increasingly competitive times.
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