Web writing that presents news, summaries,
and conclusions up front is useful and saves
time. … "I was able to find the main point
quickly, from the first line. I like that."
While reading a different news story, someone
else said, "It got my attention right away.
This is a good site. Boom. It gets to the
point."
—Morkes & Nielsen (1997)
Write like a lead sentence in a hard news
story…. Writing the punch line first, starting
with the conclusion, rather than building up
to it with careful reasoning, may be hard for
some writers used to presenting detailed
arguments orally. … It helps to write the
beginning last.
Make sure that the information and links
that all readers of a page need are visible
without scrolling when a page is first viewed.
—Bricklin (1998)
You have to let readers know right away
what’s in it for them.—Amy Gahran, quoted in
Silva (1998).
Anticipate your conclusion. Try to
accommodate it in your introduction and allow
people to skip the parts that led you to your
conclusion. —Abeleto (1999)
Disclose the most important product
information first. … Begin each product
description with information that
distinguishes that product from others and
enables customers to recognize quickly which
products do and don’t meet their needs. —IBM
(1999)
Each hypertext page should be written
according to the "inverted pyramid" principle
that is commonly taught in journalism schools.
Start with a short conclusion so that users
can get the gist of the page even if they
don’t read all of it; then, gradually, add
detail. —Nielsen (1999f)
It was more than three times as common for
users to limit their reading to a brief, as
opposed to reading a full article. … Thus Web
content needs to support both aspects of
information access: foraging and consumption.
—Nielsen (2000b)
Important information near the tops of
paragraphs and pages. —Spyridakis (2000)
A Web site has only two to three seconds in
which to grab and retain the user’s attention.
Therefore, the first page—and the first items
that appear on that page—must make a positive
first impression. —America Online(2001)
See bibliography:
Abeleto (1999),
America Online (2001),
Bricklin (1998),
Deese and
Kaufman (1957), Frase (1969),
Freebody and Anderson (1986),
IBM (1999),
Isakson and Spyridakis (1999),
Levine (1997),
Morkes & Nielsen (1997),
Nielsen (1997b, 1999f, 2000b),
Silvia (1998),
Spyridakis (2000)
Examples
Original Article:
In a recent study, we challenged our
participants to set up a candle so it
would light up the whole desk area, a task
that demanded people find a way of
attaching a candle to a screen behind the
desk. We gave 15 participants some
candles, tacks, matches, and boxes,
without anything inside; we gave another
15 participants the same materials, but
put the candles in one box, the tacks in
another, and the matches in another. The
first group, having never seen anything
inside the boxes, felt free to put a
candle inside a box, attaching the box to
the screen by hot wax. The group who saw
the boxes as containers for the supplies
never realized they could use a box as a
platform. They were stuck with the
limiting idea that the boxes could act
only as containers.
Thus, a person may get fixated,
adopting the point of view so vividly
presented by a demonstration or display,
and never letting go. Our study proves
that although a diagram, display, or
demonstration may help someone understand
a solution or function, that very success
can limit the person’s imagination when
dealing with another problem.
195 words.
Revised Article
Our recent study proves that although a
diagram or demonstration may help someone
understand a solution or function, that
very success can limit the person’s
imagination when dealing with another
problem. The person may get fixated,
adopting the point of view so vividly
presented, and never letting go.
We challenged our participants to set
up a candle so it would light up the whole
desk area, a task that demanded people
find a way of attaching a candle to a
screen behind the desk. We gave 15
participants some candles, tacks, matches,
and boxes, without anything inside; we
gave another 15 participants the same
materials, but put the candles in one box,
the tacks in another, and the matches in
another. The first group, having never
seen anything inside the boxes, felt free
to put a candle inside a box, attaching
the box to the screen by hot wax. The
group who saw the boxes as containers for
the supplies never realized they could use
a box as a platform. They were stuck with
the limiting idea that the boxes could act
only as containers.
185 words.
