603 LT1_Act 3

Defend or argue the following:

Designing/writing for a web audience is more different than similar to designing/writing for a paper audience.

Defend

When writing a paper, whether it is for a class, newspaper, or book, one needs to be very detailed and wordy. On the Internet, nearly the opposite it true. It is suggested to create headings, subheadings, and bullet point when writing for a web audience. This is something that I have never been encouraged to do for a print audience.

In both situations, the writer needs to give the most important information in the beginning. This allows the reader to decide if the current information is relevant. In printed text, it is more difficult and time consuming to find sources, so the reader is more likely to give your writing a chance and dig deeper for information. On the web, more sources are only a click away. There is so much more competition for keeping an audience while on the Internet.


I know that when I am on a website, I read the title, the sub-headings, and then the side bar. I figure that these are the places that will get me directly to the information I am looking for. This way I do not have to look through and/or read the entire page. If I do not find what I am looking for, I move on to the next source. The way I search fits exactly into the F shaped pattern.

When I read a print article, I still skim it, however, I skim more thoroughly. I tend to look for more information from the print source than I do from the web source.

It comes down to quality verses quantity when comparing a reader’s use of print and web sources. The Internet is full of sources and if someone does not find what s/he is looking for they move on the next. Quantity is key for a reader’s use of web sources. Print sources are not as easily accessible so readers spend more time with a single source and dive deeper into that sources become moving on. If for no other reason, it is for pure convenience. When readers are looking at print sources, quality is key.

We must remember this when designing for a web audience. We need to make the important information where the reader will see it, we can not simply ramble on and disguise information within the body of the page when we know that the next source is just a click away. Writing for a web-based audience takes a lot more planning and thought than writing for a paper audience.