Online Writing Skills

One Web site that is a great example of online writing skills is Slate.com. This site features original journalistic content, but the writing is clearly made for the Internet.

First off, Slate's navigation is very easy to use. The navigation bar is broken up into categories, such as "News & Politics" and "Arts & Life." Each category then brings the user to a list of recent articles. Some of these articles appear to be a little long, which isn't really a good thing, as readers don't read on the web, they SCAN. However, Slate makes up for this breach in length in other ways.

According to Jakob Nielsen, one writing skill Web sites should employ is highlighting key words. In the case of an article on Slate titled "What's Wrong With British Cattle?", keywords and important phrases are highlighted and linked in blue. This allows readers to scan and get the general idea of a story instead of having to read the whole thing on a computer screen. Another piece of advice Nielsen gives is to have meaningful subheadings. Slate does this as well, as seen with the same British cattle story. The subhead reads: "Why Do They Get So Many Diseases?" This lets the reader know what he or she is about to get into, better preparing them for the story.

Slate is very aware that readers can't always focus on a story when reading online. To remedy this they incorporate other media aspects into their stories. For example, a story about public sculpture is reported on, but also features a slide show so the reader can see the sculptures for themselves. This is part of the layering of information that Jonathan Dube discusses.

In addition, Slate employs the use of discussion boards on each article to better incorporate readers into the story. Slate is one Web site that definitely knows how to write for an online audience.