Write and Right for the Web

Preparing Web Copy

Writing for the web is different from writing in print, primarily because people do not read online-they scan the content. As such, the context you are creating needs to be scan able.

Checklist:

• Write concise sentences. (21 words maximum)
• Keep paragraphs short (65 words maximum)
• Use subheadings to break up chunks of text
• Use a list format whenever possible
• Provide a summary or overview of key points in longer articles before providing details.
• Avoid using all capitals for titles(or anything for that matter)
• Provide clear, concise calls to action
• Plain text (.txt format) is sometimes prefer—however I find it easier to work with text in word like docs.
• Do not convert text content to HTML using word processing software.
• Type in a font that works well on screens--Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Georgia. On a low-resolution PC screen, older fonts like Times, Arial, Helvetica and Courier look like cross-stitch in cat fur.

Other Web Writing Resources/Tips:

Quality Web Content

Dreamweaver--Intro

Building any website whether static or dynamic-- is half craft and half art-- Dreamweaver is the tool to blend both. In the early days of the web, most developers hand-coded their webpages using simple text editors such as Notepad and SimpleText. The second generation of web authoring tool brought visual design or WYSISYG (What You See is What You Get) editors to market. What these products furnished ease of layout, they lacked in completeness of code. Professional web developers were requires to hand-code their web pages, even with the most WYSISYG editor.

Dreamweaver is one of the best WYSIWYG editors on the market. The visual edition functions of Dreamweaver allow one to quickly add design and functionality to the pages, without the necessity to program HTML code manually. It's possible to create tables, edit frames, work with layers, insert Javascript behaviors, etc., in a very simple and visual form. In addition, it includes a complete FTP client software, allowing amongst other things to work with visual maps of the Web sites, and updating the Web site in the server without leaving the program.


Tutorials to create layouts:

Creating a Table-Based Page Layout (this is the inclass assignment--remember to define the site first)

Photoshop web templates

Photoshop, like Fireworks, can be used to create web pages.

**Note, be sure to check the end product of each tutorial prior to committing.**

Photoshop web page creation tutorials: (choose one)
(Feel Free to change the text, etc to fit your personal preferences.)

Easy:
Clean Layout
Simple Blue Layout
Cool Blue Corp.

Tougher
Black & Sleek
Black & Red Gamer tutorial
Creative Grunge
Gamer
Summer Time
Cool Blue *this one requires use of the pen tool which can be tricky.

Or simply choose your own:
Pixel 2 Life website layouts
Good Tutorials-