Does web-specific writing really exist?

What is web writing?

In journalism courses, we teach that writing for the Internet requires a specific style to attract and, above all, retain readers. Be short, concise, choose an enticing title, introduce interactivity with links, videos, images... and of course think about the natural referencing of articles by search engines.

It's easy to see that it would be difficult to fit an article of 10,000 signs (one sign = one letter or one space) on a website as it would be in a magazine. From this main idea flow the rules that many copywriters have imposed on themselves to attract web surfers. But the most important thing to remember is that the main principles of journalistic writing are ultimately the same as for a print medium:

• find a short, informative or inciting headline,
• limit yourself to one idea per sentence, reducing the sentence to around 15 words,
• avoid long paragraphs by overlapping, inserting incises or visuals,
• avoid using capital letters,
• if the information needs to be clarified and completed, include a link in the text (like a footnote),
• etc.

There is, however, a notable difference between reading on screen and reading on paper: Internet users "scan" the information on their screen, especially if the text is long. Reading on the Internet encourages them to develop a "diagonal" reading style. The text must therefore be dense enough yet pleasant to read, both in terms of content and form. Good to know, for example: it would seem that justified text makes reading more difficult for many of us, especially dyslexics, despite its "cleaner" appearance.

We've also noticed that certain sites sometimes give more importance to search engine referencing than to the editorial lines and charters to be followed, which are just as essential as for a paper publication.

A diktat of hyper-interactivity

On his blog Médiaculture, journalist and web strategy consultantCyrille Franck denounces the "impostures" of so-called "web writing". Not only does he denounce the abundance of so-called specific advice on writing for the web, but he also questions the explosion of multimedia used in all sorts of ways (videos, animations, "serious games"...) and raises the question of its interest for the reader.

Indeed, under the pretext of being trendy and interactive, many websites base their articles on hollow text, which nevertheless remains the focus of the reader's attention, accompanied by pretty embellishments and dozens of external links, thus transforming themselves in their own way into an information "engine". This habit is also a devious way of attracting the flow to one's own market, at the risk of suffocating the surfer under an avalanche of information.

So,"in what format should information be presented to make it clearer, more pleasant and easier to consume? Cyrille Franck decrees that there is no single answer, but that text must retain its main place. The question of format may explain this recent orgy of interactivity. After all, everyone fumbles around in their own way, trying to find the best way to process information correctly and attractively.

Don't be afraid of serious subjects... or long articles

We already know that writing for the web is all about writing "well" in the final analysis, without neglecting any of the rules applicable to paper and keeping the reader's interest in mind. It also means not avoiding so-called "serious" subjects, so as not to underestimate the web user, who is perfectly capable of tackling subjects such as physics or economics.

Another recent article, published in Wired and analyzed by Xavier de la Porte on Internet actu, supports Cyrille Franck's view. In it, Clive Thompson explains that web writing, and in particular that seen on blogs, has changed since the arrival of applications like Twitter. He quotes blogger Danil Dash: "I save the little things for Twitter and only blog when I have something really important to say". And it turns out that the most popular blog posts are now the longest, at 8,000 to 9,000 signs. That's not far from the 10,000-signature limit used in magazines!

Web writing is therefore nothing more than rich, enjoyable writing. Images, videos and links don't have to take precedence over text, which remains the main source of information, supplemented by diagrams, computer graphics, photographs and so on. Journalists and bloggers, don't be afraid to follow certain "old-fashioned" rules to the letter. You'll avoid unnecessary and ultimately counter-productive text standardization.

Sources: full article Les impostures de l'écriture web - Cyrille Franck, January 2011; Du bavardage à la réflexion profonde. Xavier de la Porte, Internet actu, January 2011.

Illustration: AndreyPopov- DepositPhotos