- Hook surfers' attention - Write informative, persuasive Web text - Create dynamic personal and corporate Web pages
Publishing on the Web is a very simple task. Publishing content that works well in the online medium and communicates effectively is quite another matter. In Writing for the Web, author and freelance writer Crawford Kilian shares his insights about producing just the right type and amount of content for your target sites.
Kilian acknowledges early on his bias toward print publishing, but his viewpoint offers a particularly relevant discussion for other writers moving traditional content to the Web. Throughout the book, he emphasizes his three principles of Web text: orientation, information, and action. These principles wisely expand the reader's view from content and grammar to the special interactivity and technical-viewing aspects of reading online.
The book is quite brief at only 140 pages, but contains some useful traditional style tips, such as using active tense, strong verbs, and precise word choices. Ironically, the book doesn't include any screen shots to illustrate formatting guidelines in action on real Web sites. This lack of visual connection to the presented techniques detracts from the book's effectiveness.
Nothing ruins the first impression of your Web site than poorly designed content or documents haphazardly ported to electronic form. This book isn't an end-all reference to Web-content presentation, but it certainly offers some useful tips for writing effectively for cyberspace. --Stephen W. Plain
Topics covered:
On-screen text
Web-site structure
Content organization
Writing style guidelines
Web text editing
Corporate content
Resumes
Personal pages
Marketing
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Writing for the Web Wins:
This practical book gives great specific guidelines in an easily-understood and instantly usable way. I applied a couple of principles from the first chapter immediately to my writing. The examples are well-done, and very clear. Any how-to book that can be immediately be used within hours of its purchase is well worth the price. A CD-Rom is included with exercises and examples, and the book itself has exercises. Very practical - great job!
Oh, dear:
I find it odd that several reviewers laud Mr. Kilian's inclusion of basic writing tips. Give me a break! This slim book should concentrate on web writing, not be a primer for those who can't agree their verbs and subjects. The information provided is woefully general and outdated. Mr. Kilian is an older gentleman whose main career as he describes it was back in the 1960s; his text definitely reads like a time capsule. Savvy professionals serious about learning the particular skill of web writing will get... more info
Plenty of buzzwords, but no substance ...:
This book reminds me of the internet boom days - lots of fluff, but no substance. Crawford Killian's book covers web site structure, organizing content, writing style, editing, corporate writing, yet there is no mention of any actual web sites he has worked on.
Yes, the author mentions his print bias, but if I were interviewing Mr. Killian to work for me as web/technical writer, the first thing I would ask:
Name me three URL's (not your home page) you have worked on as a paid professional writer. Not... more info
Packed With Excellent Writing Instruction!:
The "Geek" edition of "Writing for the Web" by Crawford Kilian was written for Web developers who are more adept to programming than sitting at the keyboard of a computer and cranking out written Web page content. This book will help them to write better content that will effectively communicate the purpose of their Websites, to inform their readers, and to achieve desired results.
To become more effective communicators online we must adopt certain writing guidelines that will appeal to readers, that... more info
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