1. Home
  2. The Simmons Brand
  3. Writing Tips and Guidelines
  4. Writing for the Web

Writing for the Web

The basics of good writing hold true in any context. On the web, you still have to know your audience, organize your thoughts, and strive for clarity in expressing them. There are, however, pitfalls to avoid and opportunities to seize that are specific to writing content for the web. 

What is different about writing for the web? 

  • Reading speed. Reading on the web is slower and less comfortable for people's eyes than reading a printed page.
  • Scanning. Site visitors typically scan a page for relevance before committing to reading the details. If a page is hard to scan, people will find it easier to search for a new page rather than to continue reading.
  • Attention span. Studies have shown that if users don't find the content they are looking for within four seconds they will look elsewhere and they may not come back. 

Effective writing takes these issues into account. By paying attention to a few simple guidelines, you’ll be able to create web content that succeeds at communicating with your readers.

Helpful Tool: Evaluate your content with the Heminway App

The goal is to have clear, concise messaging in succinct language. The Hemingway App rates your content in terms of readability and has suggestions for improving it for use on your webpages.

When you are adding completely new content to the site, such as a new program, department or initiative. 

When you are adding content that will be referenced from more than one other page. 

  • In order to manage redundancy, you should create a new page for content that will be referenced from more than one page. Other pages can then link to that content instead of repeating it.
  • This increases the likelihood that the content will remain up-to-date – if the content exists in more than one place it is more likely that one place will be updated but not the others.
  • For example, the admission policy for transgender students is explicitly spelled out on the admission policies page. This content should not be repeated on other pages. Instead, link to the admission policies page.
  • When updating pages that already exist, the general rule of thumb is to only create a new page when the content needs to be quickly accessed from more than one other page. For example, the “Tuition and Fees” page is linked from many places throughout the site.

When a page is too long to be easily scanned. 

  • You can consider creating multiple pages if a page requires more than three scrolls to see all of the content, but as long as all of the content on the page is related and has headers so that it is skimmable it can likely remain as one page.

Tips to Keep in Mind When Formatting Web Content

Be succinct. Use plain language — never use two words when one will do. If there’s a shorter, simpler way to say something, do it that way.

Use short sentences. Break long sentences into smaller ones.

Keep paragraphs short.

Keep the total word count down, especially on top-level pages. Some experts recommend 50% fewer words on the web than in printed materials.

More general writing tips can be found on the Writing Do’s and Don’ts page.

  • Character limit. Titles or headlines of stories should be no longer than 60 characters. This helps the whole headline show up in Google results.
  • Use titles with keywords related to story or page content, if possible. Google indexes title and headers before text, so your page is more likely to be found in a search if there are keywords in the title or top-level headers.
  • Don't use a person’s name in headers and titles, unless the person is widely known. Keywords should be used instead, to facilitate searching.

Punctuation and capitalization in titles and headers

  • H2 (largest header size): Use Chicago headline capitalization.
  • H3 & lower: Capitalize the first word and any proper nouns.
  • Do not use colons at the end of headers. The fact that it is a header implies that the content beneath it falls under that category.
  • Use single quotes when using a quote in a title, headline, heading, or subheading (Students Gain an ‘Edge’; not Students Gain an “Edge.”)
  • Use sentence case for capitalization.
  • Avoid using all capitals for emphasis as it is harder to read.
  • Bold is best used for smaller headlines, or at the beginning of short paragraphs or bullet points to help ease skimming.
  • Use italics for emphasis only when absolutely necessary. It makes text harder to read and scan.

Facilitate Scanning

Eye tracking software has shown that people read differently online than how they read in print. Content should be designed to be easy to scan and follow common reading patterns. 

Most readers tend to: 

  • scan around 25% of the content
  • decide in less than 10 seconds whether a page is relevant
  • follow an F-shaped reading pattern, scanning the first few words of each heading 

Use headers to break up sections of content, using helpful keywords. This not only helps users scan the page but also aids with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google indexes pages using the title of the page first, and then H2 and H3 headers. 

Guide the reader’s eye to key information 

  • Use bullets instead of comma-separated lists.
  • Use subheadings (remember not to use colons at the end of headings).
  • Choose straightforward, unambiguous language; resist the urge to be clever.
  • Put the most important information first so that it will be visible on the first screen without scrolling.

Don’t assume the reader knows all of the acronyms we use at Simmons. 

Spell out the full term on first use on a page, followed by the acronym in parentheses.

  • The Simmons School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) has been ranked #1 by U.S.News & World Report.

Subsequent uses can then refer to the acronym alone.

  • For more than 100 years, SLIS graduates have been pioneers in their profession, recognized for their amazing achievements and remarkable careers, throughout New England, across the country, and around the world.

See the Key Words and Terms page for more.

For accessibility purposes, do not spell out URLs as links on a page unless absolutely necessary. Use text to describe where the link will take the user. 

Keep link text short and concise, using relevant keywords related to both the destination page as well as the surrounding content. 

Make links descriptive to entice a call to action. 

  • For buttons (CTAs), use a call to action word whenever possible (e.g., download, preview, request). This makes it easier for someone using the website with a screen reader to understand the destination for the button link. 

Avoid using “click here” or “here.” 

  • Use a descriptive link that indicates where the link goes, e.g., “Read more about How to Apply,” which is more helpful to users than a non-descriptive link. Instead of “click here to apply” try “Apply now”. 

Accessibility note: Site visitors who use the site with assistive technology like a screen reader have the ability to generate a list of links. If every link said “click here” then all they would hear would be a list of “click here, click here, click here.” We want them to hear “How to Apply,” “view student organizations,” “request a campus map,” etc. 

Avoid over linking, as it hinders readability. Superfluous links may distract your reader from what you are trying to communicate. 

Do not duplicate links on a single page unless your page is long and too cumbersome for readers to locate the first reference. Add the link to the first reference.

Web Accessibility

Images: Provide alternate text for every image and captions when it is not clear what an image is or how it relates to the nearby content. 

Videos: All videos on the website must be captioned. 

Dates: Avoid using date ordinals (i.e., use March 2 instead of March 2nd).  See the Formatting Dates and Time page for more.

Links: Do not spell out URLs as links on a page unless absolutely necessary. Use text to describe where the link will take the user, or a call-to-action button. Site visitors who use the site with assistive technology like a screen reader have the ability to generate a list of links. If full URLs are on the pages, then all they would hear would be the screen reader reading the letters in the URLs. We want them to hear “How to Apply,” “view student organizations,” “request a campus map,” etc. 

Content position on the page: Avoid the use of directional words such as “see the list below.” Due to the responsive nature of the website, it is not always going to be a given that the text you predict to be “below” will actually be “below.” This also makes it difficult for screen reader users to understand. The content that is “below” should have a clear header so that users can find it easily.

Things to Avoid in Web Content

Use a descriptive link that indicates where the link goes, e.g., “Read more about How to Apply,” which is more helpful to users than a non- descriptive link. Instead of “click here to apply” try “Apply now”. 

See the links section under Formatting Web Content for more details.

Accessibility note: Site visitors who use the site with assistive technology like a screen reader have the ability to generate a list of links. If every link said “click here” then all they would hear would be a list of “click here, click here, click here.” We want them to hear “How to Apply,” “view student organizations,” “request a campus map,” etc.

In general, it is not a good idea to create FAQ pages on a website. 

They duplicate information: If that information really matters to users, it should form part of a wider well-structured, user-centric journey on the site. 

They create content overhead: An FAQ needs to be monitored and maintained and risks confusing users if not kept up to date. 

They are often made up and are NOT actually frequently asked: FAQs are often used to provide an easy way to answer a “question” where the answer should be found in the main content. 

They are difficult to navigate: Long lists of questions don’t make finding information easy. Well-structured content with headers and bullets to facilitate scanning make finding information easy. 

They are repetitive and slower to read: Every question typically starts with who, what, where, when, how, or why. This makes the content repetitive and slower to consume, forcing people to read the full sentence every time. 

Instead of creating FAQ pages: 

  • Find out what users want to know through research.
  • Publish the information next to other relevant content, where people will naturally look for it.
  • Use nested headings, short sentences, and well-laced keywords to make the content easy to read. Often the “questions” can be reconfigured as headers within the main content.

Avoid obvious or redundant statements, such as “Welcome to the Communications website!” The title of the page is enough to let the user know the page they are on. 

Avoid using statements like “On this webpage you will find...” to describe the content on the page. Instead use headers to make the content scannable. 

Avoid using placeholders such as “This page is under construction” for content that is not ready. If the content isn’t ready, the page shouldn’t exist.