Why I Am Cool
... tables, and examples all put some space on the page because they are shorter lines of text than typical prose. Pictures - icons, photos, line drawings, etc. - add color and blank space (around the picture). They can also be part of your message — replacing words or adding another dimension of meaning — but only if you choose the pictures wisely. • Cut out words You can often convey the essential message in half as many words as you originally wrote. Revise. Revise. Revise. Do not assume that your first draft is the best you can do. Write a draft. Leave it for a day or so. Go back to it and try to make your point even more succinctly. • Keep paragraphs short A one sentence paragraph may be fine. • Keep sentences short Users need to grasp the meaning quickly. You can often put secondary information in another sentence, in a table, in fragments, or leave it out entirely. • Use fragments In frequently asked questions (FAQs) for example, don't repeat words from the question in the answer. • Use the users' words Avoid jargon. Think about these changes: In moving to the Web, is your audience expanding? Should you change words for your broader Web audience? The Web is available globally. Should you change words to reach a world-wide audience? Even if you are writing for a United States government site, don't you want people outside of the U. S. to understand your content? Even if your audience is only U. S. residents, consider how many of them speak English as a second language. For your broader audience, should you consider translating the Web pages into other languages? Short sentences, simple words, consistency in how you use words all contribute to easier translations. Did all users understand the original document? Even your original users may be better served by changes. Use bulleted lists • Use bulleted lists Lists are an excellent way to break up text. Nielsen found that lists accounted for 47% of the improvement in changes he made to the Sun Web site. See www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html. • Use numbered lists for steps in a procedure Recognize when you are telling people how to do something. If it is a procedure, it has steps. If it has steps, set them out in a numbered list. A numbered list has many advantages. Users can easily: see how many steps they have to do do one step at a time and know where to come back to start in the middle if they had done some steps earlier use the list to check that they have done it all • Use tables A table is a visual way of representing a series of "if, then" sentences. We use a table by scanning down the first column to find the place that fits our situation. Then we look across that row to find the information we are seeking for our situation. Each of these rows is the same as saying "If the value of the order is this amount, then this is how much you pay for shipping." A table shows the essential information without all the little words that you would have to repeat in each sentence if you wrote it out as prose. A table can be words as well as numbers. In putting together a table, always make the left-most column the one that has what people know when they come to the table — what you would put in the "if" clause of an "if, then" sentence. • Give examples Users love examples. They often go right to the examples instead of reading the text. • Meet users' expectations for the way information is displayed For example, if you are giving an address, write it on separate lines like an address prices or hours, list them as you would see them in a store • Use icons or small pictures to enhance the words Without being overly cute, you can add a touch of humor and help users at the same time. For example: If you are telling people how to reach you, put in a picture of a phone, a fax machine, etc. If you are dealing with a specific topic, there might be a relevant icon for that topic. (A word of caution: Think globally. Will your icon or picture be recognized around the world?) • Include pictures and other graphics, when appropriate Use pictures, line art, charts, and other graphics functionally. The graphics should contribute to the message, not just look pretty. Also, be concerned about accessibility. For example, make sure that the graphic is "readable" by a reading program for the blind by having an Alt-Text caption available. Why is easy-to-use content so critical? In this section, we give you some background information on why following the guidelines about making information visual is so important. Also, we offer advice to those of you who are being pressured to put paper documents on the Web without revising them. How do people use the Web? Should I put paper documents on the Web? What if I have users who read on the Web and users who print to read? • How do people use the Web? Users scan and select Even on content pages, users skim, scan, and select Not reading makes sense Not reading is not new to the Web Reading on the Web may be more difficult than on paper Users scan and select Users scan and select In most encounters with a Web site, users must first navigate to the page they need. They do this by scanning and selecting — or searching — seldom by reading more than a few words. Time spent getting to the right place is "down" time so people want to do it as quickly as possible. Even on content pages, users skim, scan, and select Nielsen found that 79% of users skimmed and scanned on Web pages [www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/rewriting.html]. Web users don't want to read a lot. Not reading makes sense Most of the time, users are trying to find a specific piece of information or the answer to a specific question. They often want to grab just the information they need and get on towards a goal. Having to read a lot is an obstacle to completing the goal. Not reading is not new to the Web Some people think that skimming and scanning is unique to the Web. But it's not. Workplace documents are different from novels. People use documents. Even with paper documents, people want to jump in to just the information that they need, grab that information, and jump back out of the document. Karen Schriver found that 81% of users with paper documents acted just like Nielsen's web users. In reporting their behavior with users' manuals, 46% said they scanned them; 35% said they used the documents for reference (which I take to mean that they went to a specific page to get a specific piece of information). [Schriver, Dynamics in Document Design, John Wiley & Sons, 1998, page 213.] Reading on the Web may be more difficult than on paper Older research showed that reading from the Web was about 25% slower than reading from paper. That difference may be disappearing with high resolution monitors, although we do not yet have definitive research with a relevant task, such as reading and understanding. Many people still find reading from the screen for extended periods to be difficult and tiring. • Should I put paper documents on the Web? That depends on whether people are: Using the Web as their primary source of information Using the Web as a repository (archive) from which to p...