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Tips on Writing for the Web Environment

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Writing for the web demands pithy sentences, skillful hyperlinks, point-first writing, clear division into sections, use of headings, lists and tables, images, and awareness of how punctuation looks on a screen.

Pithy Sentences

Keep your writing taut and to the point. Some variation in syntax keeps your prose lively, but subject-verb-object syntax should predominate. Avoid baroque sentences with inverted syntax and subordinate clauses.

Point-First Writing

Point-first writing is particularly important in the web environment. Make sure each paragraph begins with a point sentence (sometimes called a topic sentence or mini-claim). Readers often skim in the web environment. Make sure the first sentence in each paragraph summarizes the contents of the paragraph.

Section Divisions and Headings

Web readers are accustomed to viewing shorter sections of text than are typically found in printed texts. Such an arrangement makes it easier for readers to scan the page quickly for the information that is of interest to them.
Divide your article into a number of discrete sections and use a short, descriptive heading for each section. Note that MoEML recommends particular headings for Encyclopedia pages. These headings will generate the Contents List that appears on the left-hand side of a MoEML page. We can encode up to five levels of sub-headings.
Paragraph lengths are typically shorter in the web environment than in print.

Lists and Tables

Bulleted or numbered lists work well in the web environment. We can encode either type of list very easily, as well as lists within lists.
Tables with 3-4 columns also work well in the MoEML environment. If you want your table to have sortable columns, tell us how you want them to sort (alphabetically or numerically).

Images

We highly recommend the use of images in your contribution. Images illustrate your point(s) and also break up long blocks of text. See our Contributor Guidelines on the use of images.

Punctuation

Avoid using semi-colons (unless they appear in a quotation), because they look like commas on many screens.

Basic Resources

Those very unfamiliar with the web environment might find the Internet Shakespeare Editions’ Guidelines on Hypertext useful.

Cite this page

MLA citation

Jenstad, Janelle, Kim McLean-Fiander, and Katie Tanigawa. Tips on Writing for the Web. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 26 Jun. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/web_writing_tips.htm.

Chicago citation

Jenstad, Janelle, Kim McLean-Fiander, and Katie Tanigawa. Tips on Writing for the Web. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 26, 2020. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/web_writing_tips.htm.

APA citation

Jenstad, J., McLean-Fiander, K., & Tanigawa, K. 2020. Tips on Writing for the Web. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/web_writing_tips.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
A1  - Jenstad, Janelle
A1  - McLean-Fiander, Kim
A1  - Tanigawa, Katie
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - Tips on Writing for the Web
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/06/26
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/web_writing_tips.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/xml/standalone/web_writing_tips.xml
ER  -

RefWorks

RT Web Page
SR Electronic(1)
A1 Jenstad, Janelle
A1 McLean-Fiander, Kim
A1 Tanigawa, Katie
A6 Jenstad, Janelle
T1 Tips on Writing for the Web
T2 The Map of Early Modern London
WP 2020
FD 2020/06/26
RD 2020/06/26
PP Victoria
PB University of Victoria
LA English
OL English
LK https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/web_writing_tips.htm

TEI citation

<bibl type="mla"><author><name ref="#JENS1"><surname>Jenstad</surname>, <forename>Janelle</forename></name></author>, <author><name ref="#MCFI1"><forename>Kim</forename> <surname>McLean-Fiander</surname></name></author>, and <author><name ref="#TANI1"><forename>Katie</forename> <surname>Tanigawa</surname></name></author>. <title level="a">Tips on Writing for the Web</title>. <title level="m">The Map of Early Modern London</title>, edited by <editor><name ref="#JENS1"><forename>Janelle</forename> <surname>Jenstad</surname></name></editor>, <publisher>U of Victoria</publisher>, <date when="2020-06-26">26 Jun. 2020</date>, <ref target="https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/web_writing_tips.htm">mapoflondon.uvic.ca/web_writing_tips.htm</ref>.</bibl>

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