Bad Web Writing

       Now that you're all officially bloggers, it's a good idea to think about how your writing is working to communicate to your reader. There are some small yet important differences between the ways we read on the page and the ways we read on the web.
       Therefore, it's important that we as writers acknowledge these differences and develop a style of writing that's unique for the web. Here are four best practices:Keep paragraphs short: While our eyes are accustomed to large blocks of texts on the page (especially if you're a college student in the humanities), our eyes have a much harder time reading large chunks of texts on the screen. So it's a good idea to write in short paragraphs. A good rule of thumb is to keep paragraphs to a maximum of four sentences. White space is your friend. 
        Write for scannability: One of the ways we read differently on the screen is that we tend to scan words on the screen faster (and less in-depth) than words on the page. Ever wonder why that 1000-word, one-paragraph email never got read? This is why.
       When writing for the web, it's always a good idea to bold or underline key points, interesting phrases, or other bits of text that are sure to grab the reader's attention. Just don't overdo it. It's the old zen studying koan: If you highlight everything, you highlight nothing.You might also consider using subheads for longer posts.These are short, three- or four-word headlines that let the reader know what information is contained in a section of your post. 
       Don't summarize; link: Big blocks of text summarizing outside works are so 20th Century. The Internet is your friend. Instead of explaining to your reader Jay Cutler's reactions to last night's loss, why not just send them straight to the source? 
       Write whip-sharp topic sentences: Because most of us scan web pages, we're more likely to read the first sentence of a paragraph and move on if we're not interested. So you've got to hook the reader right up front. The means putting key information in the first sentence, asking compelling questions, or beginning with a concrete example. With all the stuff on the web, you gotta give the reader a reason to stick around.

Writing for the web: Best Practices

Now that you're all officially bloggers, it's a good idea to think about how your writing is working to communicate to your reader. There are some small yet important differences between the ways we read on the page and the ways we read on the web.

Therefore, it's important that we as writers acknowledge these differences and develop a style of writing that's unique for the web. Here are four best practices:

1. Keep paragraphs short: While our eyes are accustomed to large blocks of texts on the page (especially if you're a college student in the humanities), our eyes have a much harder time reading large chunks of texts on the screen.
   
   So it's a good idea to write in short paragraphs. A good rule of thumb is to keep paragraphs to a maximum of four sentences. White space is your friend.
   
   
2. Write for scannability: One of the ways we read differently on the screen is that we tend to scan words on the screen faster (and less in-depth) than words on the page. Ever wonder why that 1000-word, one-paragraph email never got read? This is why.
   
   When writing for the web, it's always a good idea to bold or underline key points, interesting phrases, or other bits of text that are sure to grab the reader's attention. Just don't overdo it. It's the old zen studying koan: If you highlight everything, you highlight nothing.
   
   You might also consider using subheads for longer posts. These are short, three- or four-word headlines that let the reader know what information is contained in a section of your post.
   
   
3. Don't summarize; link: Big blocks of text summarizing outside works are so 20th Century. The Internet is your friend. Instead of explaining to your reader Jay Cutler's reactions to last night's loss, why not just send them straight to the source?
   
   
4. Write whip-sharp topic sentences: Because most of us scan web pages, we're more likely to read the first sentence of a paragraph and move on if we're not interested. So you've got to hook the reader right up front. The means putting key information in the first sentence, asking compelling questions, or beginning with a concrete example. With all the stuff on the web, you gotta give the reader a reason to stick around.

In The Beginnings

Hi, ya'll. This is my English 201 blog dedicated to our investigation into this thing, "hip." You'll notice I keep putting quotes around that word. I'll continue to do so until we nail down a good set of definitions.

But right now, it seems such a vague term that it deserves to be somehow set apart from any sentence in which it appears. We'll get there. Right?

If you take a look to the left, you'll see a list of blogs from this class. If your blog isn't up yet, that means I haven't yet received an email with your URL. Remember, emails are due at 5pm today. 

I really encourage everyone to click around the blogs once we get going. I was very impressed with the ideas and questions that came out of yesterday's discussion, and I suspect these blogs will be interesting reading. Some folks have already started to dig into this the blog assignment:

"Is it hip to blog?" asks funnymom:

Perhaps the answer to that question will be discovered within the next sixteen weeks. Stay tuned.

Tyler's already doing the science on slang:

No...no...I believe to be a Hipster is much more complex then the simple apparel we choose to throw on our feet, and backs, there has got to be more to it then that. To be a "hipster" one must also establish their own Slang Language. To be hip, it is essential to have words, and sayings that others outside the group simply do not understand, nor do they intend to try and grasp. In my group of "hipsters" we say words such as "hella" meaning "very" or "really". I'll use it in a sentence to bring more light to the word, because in reality Websters does not have that word in the dictionary, let alone a simple definition. "That backside feeble grind was Hella sick broski". To Literally translate what was just said in "skater lingo", I stated, " That grind you did on that handrail was very well executed my good friend". But if we were to state the obvious in such simple, and staight foward terms we would detract from our own identity, so we speak the way we know to speak. 

And then there's this:

Subject 1: Genisisiamaticalology

You don't know you want it yet, but it's coming...

I'll see you Tuesday. Happy blogging.