Scientists who write content for their organisation’s websites might resist advice to write in plain language. Some find it hard to avoid ‘scientese’. This article shows advice from science journal style guides to encourage scientists to write more readable science for the web.
Articles
Our articles cover a range of topics on writing for the web. Accessibility is a common focus because not a lot is written on the topic from a writer’s point of view.
Most recent articles
Better science writing for the web
User story cards for web writers
User story cards can help you identify your users and their tasks. They’re an easy way to do a little planning to help guide your writing.
Beyond the content audit
If you want quality online content, you need to do more than a content audit. You need to understand the people, process and cultural issues that resulted in poor content.
5 tips for writing better microcontent
Microcontent is small-scale content often acting as a label for content that isn’t visible on the screen. It needs to work hard to communicate and connect with users. We discuss 5 tips to get your microcontent into good shape.
Accessibility evaluation for web writers
Web writers should know how to check if their content is accessible. It’s not a difficult skill to learn, and a few simple tools will help. In this article, we discuss evaluating content against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.
Text alternatives for images with captions
We need a text alternative for informative or functional images. But what should we do when the image also needs a caption? In this article we discuss the options.
A-Z of better web writing
If you want to write better web content, here’s an A-Z that should help. It covers attributes of quality content and other issues web writers should be aware of.
3 idioms reveal the truth about university websites
After working on Australian university websites for 18 years, I saw the same problems over and over. Three simple idioms capture them well.
Print to web: 10 tips for repurposing documents
If your organisation still takes a print or document-first approach to content, here are some tips to help you repurpose content for the web.
Don’t let your CMS wreck your content – part 2
A CMS can create problems for your content if you let it generate file names or text alternatives for images. This article discusses system behaviour to watch out for.
Don’t let your CMS wreck your content – part 1
Content management systems (CMS) make publishing and managing web content easier. But some systems have limiting features, or are set up in ways that aren’t helpful. In this article, we look at page titles and CMS behaviour to watch out for.
Writing for the web versus print
Good writing is good writing, regardless of the medium. So what makes writing for the web different to writing for print? In this article, we discuss one key difference — technical knowledge.
7 Cs of quality web content
If you want to write better content for your website, intranet or blog, aim for these 7 qualities. They’re based on the classic ‘7 Cs of communication’, reworked for communicating online.
4 tips for better social media writing
Tips to help you write social media content that is faster and easier to read, and more visible on social media channels.
Is your content fit for social media linking?
Are you aware of how your pages look when someone shares a link to them on social media? In this article we provide some tips on making sure your content is labelled well for social link sharing.