How is writing for the web and print different and how do you explain it?
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Attention Online Newsers, I’m looking for your advice on the difference between writing for print and writing for web.
Here’s some general standards in web writing that I think we can skip:
- Write short (or at least succinct)
- Write in scan-able text (using bolding and subheads)
- Include multimedia (although this isn’t really always necessary or correct)
But there’s a lot more that goes into writing for the web than including a YouTube video or link to another article in your blog posts. What are your thoughts?
- What makes writing for the web different than writing for print?
- Do you approach the different forms of writing differently?
- How do you explain the differences to others?
- What strategies have you used to get writers thinking in a web mentality?
Thanks for the help!
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November 18th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Shawn, you may not want to skip over that “general standards” part entirely. Many of us are evangelizing in newsrooms that are still coming to terms with their role on the web, and I think short and scannable aren’t necessarily self-explanatory to everyone.
I recently gave a presentation on writing for the web with Rachel Nixon of BBC News, and I got a sense that some in attendance were still trying to get their newsrooms to deliver something other than a duplicate of the print-edition story and headline. The accompanying handout (Word Doc or HTML), which Rachel put together (and I made a token contribution to), might make for good ammo in newsrooms that need some prodding. (What’s surprising even to me is just how short “short” means at the BBC — often no more than 200 words.)
November 20th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Thanks Eric. Good points and great doc. This might be perfect to pass along to some of the papers I work with. I know you’re familiar with my org’s model, which makes using docs like these perfect to get the message out, since we’re not in the newsrooms most of the time. ps - do you think the Knight DMC would post those videos on brightcove or something else that is more easily watchable than downloading a huge file? I’ll have to ask them.