However, the fact that so many sites (probably a majority) currently have poorly organized writing illustrates the need for some clear guidelines. While this article lists such guidelines the main purpose is to simply generate thought about how to best organize your writing for the Web and possibly inspire some new ways of thinking about Web content.

What is "organizing your writing for the Web?"
It's always important to write well no matter what the medium or publication method. Well written material is clear, speaks to its audience, is grammatically correct and often has a particular style or voice that is unique to the author. If content is not well written then it is generally not worth reading.

Poorly written material was not much of an issue before the Web because there was a "gatekeeper" (editor, publisher, etc.) that often prevented the bad writing from ever being printed. Because of the gatekeepers the writer rarely had to concern himself with how the writing was organized. The gatekeeper took care of that. There are, of course, exceptions, but by and large most writers were only concerned with the quality of their work, not with how it was arranged.

Obviously there is no gatekeeper on the Web and the result (besides a lot of bad writing being published) is that many writers need not only concern themselves with the quality of their writing but also with how it is organized and presented on the Web. Too often the result of this dual responsibility is brilliant text presented as a gigantic block of serif fonts that goes on and on and on. In other words, it is poorly organized.

Now, all you writers, think about this: Poorly written material that is organized properly often stands a better chance of being read than well written material organized poorly.
Think about that.
A Web page that contains truly brilliant text arranged poorly is often less likely to be read than some page filled with mindless tripe arranged in a brilliant manner.

Why is it important to organize writing for the Web?
When writing anything for the Web the published content is automatically at a disadvantage, compared to print, for three different reasons:

1. People read 25% slower on a computer than reading from paper.¹
2. Non-standard interface. Content will appear differently on many different devices, operating systems, browsers, screen resolutions, etc.
3. Most people read Web content sitting at a desk. This is not a "natural" reading position. People are generally not as comfortable at a desk as they are sitting on the sofa or chair in a more leisurely position. The desk/computer position lends to impatience and makes time much more valuable to the reader.

There are other factors that disadvantage written material on the Web but the above items are the primary offenders. There are also some advantages such as hyperlinking, interactive elements, visual aids and more that greatly enhance the written material but these are only enhancements and do not eliminate the disadvantages.

So how do you organize your writing for the Web?
Well, first of all you have to think about what you're writing. Think, think, think. The Web is a very strange creature. For instance, it forces design types (artists) to plan out how x process will affect y result and most just aren't used to that thought process. They eventually get it down but it's not a natural transition. Writing on the Web is the same way. You must think about how the content is arranged and how that arrangement will impact the reader. Thinking in this manner is foreign to most writers. It's closer to how programmers think than writers and artists.

Make it shorter. Whatever it is you want to say should be edited and then edited again. Cut that text down to the bare essentials. Don't be shy. Cut, cut, cut. Once you've cut it down then cut it a little more. After the cutting then try to reword stuff so that it can be understood in the least amount of words.

Break it up. Break your text into separate but related thought chunks. Look for the spots where a new thought is introduced and use that as a place to create a chunk. The chunks shouldn't be more than 4-5 paragraphs in length but shouldn't be less than two.

Create sub-heads. Give your chunks some sub-heads or something. Something to say, "this is a new thought" and to draw the eye. You're creating a page that is scanable first, then readable second. Scanability is the primary goal of good Web writing. The reader needs to be able to scan the text and find information that is interesting.

Use images/icons, but sparingly. Using images is a great way to break up a page but don't use overwhelming graphics and don't use too many. Too many hurts page loads and also causes clutter. Really large graphics don't often work well either. Using moderation is the key.

Keep it narrow, but wide too (and don't use columns unless you really know what you're doing). Don't make your text span the entire width of the browser but also don't make it three words per line. Just as in print there is a hazy area of optimized width. On the Web that area is somewhere around 400-450 pixels wide. Could be more, could be less but it's in that ball park. Play around and see what works.

Good contrast. The best color combination on the Web is black text on white background. After that it all goes downhill. There are hundreds of experts and studies that say which colors work the best but it's best to just play with it till you get something that works for you. The key thing to keep in mind is that it needs to have a good contrast while remaining legible.

Put it all on one page. If your writing is not too long then do not break it up into several linked pages. Just put it all on one page. People don't mind a little scrolling if it means they can read and scan all the content on the same page. If your text is just too long (and you've already tried to shorten it) then put it on as many pages as makes sense. Each page should contain a specific idea that can pretty much stand on its own and at least make some sort of sense without the need of the other pages. Also, do not just put a page number link at the bottom of the page, instead display ALL the other pages as linked headlines somewhere near the top of the page (Webmonkey always did a nice job of this).

Be compelling. Write well. This is a no-brainer. If your writing isn't compelling then no amount of organization will improve its quality. It may improve your chance of having it read but you really don't want to publish it if it stinks...do you?

Use links for emphasis. While links are a great way to enhance your writing they also serve as emphasis (when properly marked) where needed. Think of them as the bold or underline equivalent (which they often can be both bold and underlined).

Conclusion
The key to writing on the Web is to keep in mind that people who surf Web pages are scanning everything and your job is to make something that will make sense to the casual glance. Having lines and lines of unbroken text simply won't cut it on the WWW. Now have fun.

FOOTNOTE: 1 - Jakob Nielsen, Designing Web Usability - p. 101 (Research has shown that reading from computer screens is about 25% slower than reading from paper.)

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