A few months ago I posted on the 3 fundamental skills of web writing. I re-read that post and realized it needed a real life example to truly be useful. So let's recap.

Writing for the web is different because people read differently on the web. In fact, they don't read but they scan, so everything you write needs to be scannable. These are the web writing guidelines:

- bolded, italicized and hyperlinked keywords
- lots of lists
- meaningful sub-headings (not “clever” ones)
- short paragraphs with one idea
- always start with the conclusion, giving readers what they are seeking upfront
- use lots of captioned photos, diagrams and graphics to illustrate your points
- make it less formal and more personalized

The following is a paragraph that appears on one of my clients' homepage:

At the Mind Wave Institute we use a unique and effective combination of Medical Hypnotherapy, Guided Imagery, Mindfulness Meditation and Life Style Coaching, to help you achieve optimal health and vitality using the natural healing power of your mind. Your mind has a powerful healing influence on your body, however most of us are not trained to access it. The mind body techniques taught at Mind Wave Institute allow you to access the full potential of your mind. Giving you the tools you need to create a life you love, free of pain and anxiety. Specialties include weight loss, pain management, anxieties, phobias, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, stress related medical issues and hypnosis for childbirth preparation - HypnoBirthing.

And here is (almost) the same content, but modified according to the web writing guidelines:

Are you suffering from:

• Being Overweight
• Smoking
• Teeth Grinding (Bruxism)
• Stress
• Anxieties and Phobias
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

At the Mind Wave Institute we use the proven techniques of Medical Hypnotherapy, Self Hypnosis Training, Guided Imagery, Mindfulness and Guided Meditation and Life Style Coaching to help you achieve optimal health and vitality.

These techniques tap into the usually unaccessible subconscious and allow you to use the natural healing power of your mind to its fullest potential.

Which one would you rather read?

Jakob Nielsen's on a roll. The usability Guru recently came out with the Top 10 web design mistakes (I wrote a post on the top 3), and now he's just published the top 10 weblog design mistakes. I thought it would be interesting to test this blog against his list. So no holds barred, here we go!

1. No Author Biographies
The main reason to have a biography is to build trust: check (my bio).

2. No Author Photo
They serve to personalize and connect: check (my photo).

3. Nondescript Posting Titles

Jakob says:

Users must be able to grasp the gist of an article by reading its headline. Avoid cute or humorous headlines that make no sense out of context.

I think looking at the list of recent entry titles in the right column we can check that.

4. Links Don't Say Where They Go
Avoid sentences like there's more here and here. This one is sometimes difficult to remember to do, but looking at the links in this article I'll generously give myself a check.

5. Classic Hits are Buried
This means linking to your most read pieces. Not many people read this blog (yet!) so I have not implemented a “most read posts” - but will do soon. Verdict for now: fail.

this post is about navel gazing, so this is a photo of the navel of the earth

6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation
There should be 10 to 20 categories as additional navigation: check.

7. Irregular Publishing Frequency
I've been trying to publish a post a week, but this area definitely needs improvement: C-.

Jakob adds:

you shouldn't post when you have nothing to say. Polluting cyberspace with excess information is a sin.

8. Mixing Topics
Try to stay focused on one (narrow) topic. I'll give myself a check on that one.

Another classic quote from JN:

The only people who read everything are those with too much time on their hands (a low-value demographic).

9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
Hmm, maybe I should remove these compromising photos: B.

10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
Jacob says that having a blog ending in blogspot.com or typepad.com will soon become the same as having a @aol.com email address: the mark of a beginner. Check on that one.

Verdict
7 or 8 out 10 - none too shabby.

The usability guru Jakob Nielsen comes out with a list of 10 web design mistakes every couple of years. Here's the top 3 for this year (2005):

1. Legibility Problems
Most complaints were about small font sizes or frozen font sizes (which you cannot alter using a browser's Text Size command). This one really surprised me, and it prompted me to start making websites with bigger fonts. With the baby boomers getting older, it's only going to get worse.

2. Non-Standard Links
This is broken down into 5 sections:
- Non-obviously clickable links (not underlined)
- No differentiation between visited and unvisited links
- No explanation of where the link leads to (a typical example is click here)
- JavaScript or other fancy techniques that break standard interaction techniques for dealing with links
- Opening pages in new windows (but Jakob says that's OK for PDF files and such)

3. Flash
Jakob says that

Most of the Flash that Web users encounter each day is bad Flash with no purpose beyond annoying people. The one bright point is that splash screens and Flash intros are almost extinct. They are so bad that even the most clueless Web designers won't recommend them, even though a few (even more clueless) clients continue to request them.

That fits in well with my philosophy and the reason I called my company no diamonds, meaning not flashy.

Jakob's homepage - an exercise in leanness weighing in at 15k with no images at all - too bad it still uses tables and is not XHTML valid