Most publications about Internet design focus on graphics, programming and commerce. The Web Writer focuses on text, showing you how you can maximize your message through formatting, usability and structure.  

As a writer, your product is your message. The Web Writer will help you be sure it doesn't get lost online.

Serving the Electronic Reader

Everyone's rushed in today's electronic culture. Convenience is measured in kilobytes per second. A reader's attention hangs on the click of a mouse. Online, no one takes the time to read anymore. The e-reader is on the run and your message must keep up. More

Designing For Print and Online Publishing

Developing Pre-Internet and Print/Internet Documents

The nature of a document is in the mind of the beholder. Once, document meant paper. Then, it became an electronic file printed on paper. Now, it's an electronic file published electronically. Here’s how to design documents that will work in any publishing medium. More

One Document, Many Views

Tailoring Your Message For Multiple Readers

The Internet has made it difficult for writers to do a lot of things. But it has made some things easier as well. One of those things is tailoring documents for multiple readers. Here's why you should do it, and how. More

Using Tables as Formatting Tools

They're Not Just for Charts Anymore

I remember the first table I developed for the Internet. I liked the embossed look. And, I especially liked the way it let me organize my text. The first HTML word processors didn't support creating tables. But that's changed. And, as the distinction between HTML authoring and word processing blurs, tables have become a powerful and flexible formatting tool. More

Frames

When to Use Them, What to Avoid

Ahhh, frames! They answered one of the Web writer's greatest frustrations—keeping the title (and menu) on the screen.

Argh, frames! They reduced the size of the message area so much that it became hard to read the message, and made using graphics almost impossible.

What is good design and what should be avoided? Here are some thoughts. More

Headings

More Important Than Ever When You Publish Online

Headings. They introduce topics. You take them for granted. That is, until you find yourself lost in a sea of text once the heading has scrolled away.

On the Internet, headings are more than a visual outline, they give the reader a frame of reference. Ideally, every screen height should have a heading. Readers should never have to scroll beyond the limits of a single screen without a visual cue to what they are reading. More

Getting Your Reader's Attention With Pull Quotes

Traditionally Used as Filler, They Can Do a Lot More

Pull quotes. You see them in magazines and in newspapers. Publishers traditionally use them as filler. But pull quotes do more than just fill. They get the reader's attention, highlight key points and add style to a document.

Technical writers have ignored pull quotes as a way to emphasize. Trainers have ignored them as a way to reinforce. But pull quotes do both, and can make a document more effective.  More

Preserving Document Appearance

When Your Reader is Calling the Shots

When you write for the Internet, you are painting on an unknown canvas because your reader controls many aspects of document appearance. In most cases, appearance is an important part of your message. Here's how you can be sure the document that is delivered is the one you planned to send. More

Designing Navigation

Providing a Roadmap For the Internet Traveler

The Internet has been called the Information Superhighway. Some readers travel it using search engines. Others may access a site directly. What happens when a reader exits the highway to visit your site? Are the signposts clearly marked, or is the reader left to find his or her own way?

When a reader accesses your Web site, the first question he or she will ask is "Did I get there?" followed by "Is this where I wanted to go?" If the reader is satisfied that your site is the intended destination, the next question will be "Where can I go from here?" More

Online Help

Making it Helpful

Help! Nearly every computer user needs it at one time or another. Some online help is excellent. Some isn't. Just what makes help helpful? And what exactly is help, anyway? More

Using Keywords to Enable Searches

Helping Readers Find Your Document

So you want to publish on the Internet. Great! You'll reach farther than you can with print, or with an electronic document that must be distributed locally. Now, literally millions of people will read what you have to say. That is, they will if they can find your document.

How can you reach the readers you want? How will those readers look for topics like yours? Most will use search engines. Therefore, you must do everything you can to be sure search engines find your document and place it at, or near, the top of their list. More

Multiple Files

When to Use Them

Web sites come in all shapes and sizes. Some are single pages. Others are complex structures joined with links. Each page in a Web site is a file. So, when is one file enough, and when do you need to use multiple files? More

Online Prototyping

A Shortcut To Approval

Eliminating the paper steps from electronic document development saves the environment and reduces time. Here's how to put online prototyping to work for you. More

Great Links!

Before&After: How to Design Cool Stuff The name says it all