Transcript Writing for Drupal • Web writing best practices • Social media tools for Drupal.

Writing for Drupal
• Web writing best practices
• Social media tools for Drupal
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Know your audience’s needs.
Who are they?
What are they looking for?
What kind of information
should you give them to
introduce your department,
college or site?
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Create a Persona
A simple definition of a web persona is: a
summary of the characteristics, needs,
motivations and environment of typical
web site users.
Personas are essentially a ‘thumbnail’
description of a type of person.
• Who they are
• What they need
• What they’re looking for.
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• Make your content look
appealing.
• Make your content
scannable.
• Don’t use excess text.
• Break up lengthy sections
with subheads.
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Be Clear and Direct
Lead with your main point, then elaborate; don’t save “the
punch line” for the end.
In general, be as direct as possible in your writing. When
providing links, be clear about what visitors will find when
clicking. A short blurb to describe a linked resource can
help to tell readers whether that’s what they want.
Example:
Do:
Apply here [link to application]
Don’t: By completing the online application available on
this site you can enroll in the program.
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Use Second-Person Language
Talk to the user. “You” is the most powerful word on the web, and a
conversational tone is appropriate for many webpages. Don’t be
afraid to write in second person.
Example:
Do:
Get advice you need to write effective web copy that gets
your program noticed.
Don’t: Users should review our suggestions on writing for the web
to optimize their organization’s outreach efforts.
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Provide Easy-to-Scan Content
To serve your readers, keep their attention, and provide easily scannable
content, use these techniques in your writing:
• Break your information into “chunks” that can be easily accessed and
comprehended • Use heads and subheads to partition your content • Use
bulleted lists whenever possible
Don’t: Read about how we can help you prepare for the rigors of the job
search, with tips for posting your resume on our website, searching our
extensive database of job offerings, and registering for upcoming fall
semester Career Fairs.
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Write Clear, Direct Headlines
The web is an attention-competitive environment, and headlines are a
must. Headlines help readers to scan your webpages and find what they
need. In general, write clear, direct headlines rather than catchy ones.
Example:
Do: Oregon State’s Forestry Department Ranked No. 1
Don’t:
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Trees, Forests and Being No. 1
Write a good introductory paragraph.
It will introduce visitors to your site and also help your site to show up in
search results. Include keywords in your text you think your audience will
search for.
Example:
Our mission is to make people’s lives better, whether it’s by building
earthquake-proof bridges, providing safe drinking water, or using thin film
technology to create more efficient solar cells. We create opportunities for
our students to make a difference even before they graduate, and help foster
industry relationships that bring our discoveries to the rest of the world.
Making an impact beyond the classroom drives us to address some of the
most critical issues we face in Oregon and beyond.
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Paragraph writing
• Use short paragraphs. Large blocks of text can look like walls,
and act as such to the user. Research has shown that short,
concise paragraphs and bulleted lists work best for web use.
• Your first paragraph is the most important one. As such, it
should be brief, clear, and to the point in order to quickly
engage the user. One sentence paragraphs are encouraged.
• Write in an inverted pyramid style. Place the most important
information at the top, extra info toward the bottom.
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Cut the fat out of writing – especially web writing
• Use short, simple sentences
• Create a clear sentence structure
• Drop needless words
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Where’s the “fat?”
“increase PE in order to decrease obesity,”
Can become…
“increase PE to decrease obesity,”
Just when you think you are done, look again. Cut, cut, and cut
your text until it is the most essential message.
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•Using lists and tables are highly recommended when they make
the content easier to digest.
•Overuse of lists/tables can make it difficult to make more
complex points.
•Ensure that your content is best conveyed with a list/table
before using them.
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Make your link text work
• Use an accurate description of the linked content worked into
a sentence for hyperlinks.
For example, instead of:
“To see our most recent annual report, click here”
Use:
“For more information, see our most recent Annual Report”
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…some additional tips
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Use active verbs.
Limit your use of italics, bold, underlining and highlighting.
Try NEVER to use all caps.
Know your copyediting weaknesses. Is it spelling? Punctuation?
Read your content aloud before posting so you can get a sense of
how it sounds.
• If you have the resources, do user testing. Send a survey to your
users, or do a card sort exercise.
• Name your page clearly. The page title and the navigation title
should match as closely as possible. They should also clearly
articulate the subject of the page. Do not use “Welcome to
Communications!” Instead, say “Communications Office.”
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• On the average Web page, users have time to read at most
28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.
• Obviously, users tend to spend more time on pages with more
information. However, the best-fit formula tells us that they
spend only 4.4 seconds more for each additional 100 words.
• For OSU feature stories, we get several thousand hits, with
users spending on average about 2:00 on the page.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html
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www.oregonstate.edu/ua/brand/editorial-style
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http://oregonstate.edu/ua/proof-points-college-oceanic-and-atmospheric-sciences
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Resources
• OSU Brand Guidelines - http://oregonstate.edu/ua/brand
• Integrated Marketing Communications http://oregonstate.edu/ua/integrated
• WiseGeek – Best Practices for Web Writing –
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-best-practices-forweb-writing.htm
• Groundwire.org - http://groundwire.org/about
• Letting go of the Words – Janice Redish
[email protected]
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