Net11 SP2 2009

"Optional ‘standards’ task:
Make a summary of what you believe are the 5 most important ‘rules’ for writing online. Think about any differences between the articles: for example, is the advice in Nielsen’s paper -- written in 1997 – still current?" (Allen, M n.d)

I really liked Dennis G. Jerz's take on the top 5 online writing & design tips.

• Lead with your best stuff - This makes perfect sense, why wouldn't you want to capture your readers attention from the very start.
• Inform with meaningful links - If your reader doesn't 'get' what your talking about chances are they will navigate away, providing links will solve this. For the visually impared reader, how you write those links is crucial, this comes back to useability.
• Employ consistent navigation - Putting a "Home" link in the top left corner of every page. There is nothing worse than having to navigate through hoops and over jumps to get through a website. If the site doesn't provide the 'typical' navigational links then a user will simply close the page and move on.
• Prefer simple designs - A page that loads quickly, regardless of the speed of your internet connection is important, if it takes too long again the user will navigate away. Keep images small, reduce pixels where you can. Jerz says "fancy design is no replacement for good content".
• Write scanable text - The use of subheading, meaningful links and bullet point lists are all essential to keep the reader on your site. Reducing the word count, highlighting keywords draw the readers eye to the infomation they seek.

Nielsons paper is today ,more than ever still current. According to Technorati, there are on average 900,000 new blog posts in any 24 hour period, then there are the Twitters, the new sites that erupt daily, and the social networking sites. It seems there are alot more people writting for the web these days, each and everyone of them wants to be noticed more than the blog before. They all want that edge that will get them a new reader, a new follower, their brand recognised or revenue from click through ad's.

Allen, M n.d "Module Three: Contributing to the infosphere: e-writing?" Retrieved on July 20, 2009 from http://lms.curtin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_18825_1%26url%3d