Writing for the Web

Writing a web page that will keep a viewer interested can be a daunting task. A study by Harald Weinreich, Hartmut Obendorf, Eelco Herder, and Matthias Mayer entitled  "Not Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use," basically states that users read at most 28% of the text on a page, but probably closer to 20%.

 So what can we do to captivate users attention. The following are some things I found doing research on www.useit.com.

1. Most people scan web pages in an F pattern, so if you align your text, or at least the important parts in this manner you are more likely to get your message across.
2. The English you use can be very important. Make sure you are not crossing British English with American English.  Example: theater vs. theatre
3. Make sure the tagline for you page identifies uniquely with what you are doing. Especially if the site is for a company. You want your tagline by itself to identify you and not be to vague.
4. Use well known words to help bring your site closer to the top of search results. Try to avoid lingo that is maybe more personal or complex. Think of what the average person would write when doing a search.
5. And finally keep the amount of text you use to as little as possible to convey what you are trying to get across. Given the proclivity of people to scan over a page this is important if you do not want them to grow bored quickly.

I hope this helps, for more tips head over to http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/

The best Satire site on the internet.

I can not help it. I am addicted to a website that laughs in the face of everything. If anyone ever found a "Modest Proposal" even mildly amusing, this is the site for you.

Cracked.com is a site focused on fact based satire. Some of the articles have a lot of research put into them, while others are absurd in the extreme and the term fact is irrelevant. The intended audience are those who need a break from their lives and have a fairly skewed sense of humor. The only way to really know if you are in the intended audience is to visit the site. If you read one article you will most likely be hooked.

One of the things that grabs your attention upon visiting the site is how well designed it is. A big graphic for the header in red grabs your attention, followed by drop down menus, and most recent articles. It is functional and well designed at the same time. If you actually click on an article you will notice that they all share the same format which gives the site a nice flow.

If you have some free time, definitely give Cracked.com a peek.

Intro Post

My name is Hans and this is my second semester at the school. I have an A.A.S in Network Technology and am working towards my B.A. in Information Technology. I live with my daughter and my girlfriend in town and work at a company called Select Tech Solutions as office manager/lead tech. I am looking forward to this class as I have always wanted to learn html and have not built a web site since I was 13. At the time I was a huge anime nerd and designed my site on Gundam Wing....but I am too big of a dork to be truly ashamed. Here is to a great semester.