Course Description
This course will introduce students to the essentials of writing and editing text for the web. Topics covered include writing for efficient reading; editing print content for web use; optimizing web content for search-engines and their users; finding the appropriate voice and tone for each project; writing good page titles, headlines, “alt” text, and link text; and writing “interface copy.” Students will draft and edit a variety of content pages and revise previously written print copy for use on the web.
Prerequisites
Recommended Textbook(s)
- Redish, Janice. Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works. Greensboro: Morgan Kaufmann, 2007.
- Cook, Claire Kehrwald. Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing. New York: Mifflin Harcourt, 1985.
Recommended Reading
General Writing on the Web
- “Better Writing Through Design,” by Bronwyn Jones
- “Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages,” by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen
- “Writing for the Web,” by Sarah Horton
- Chapter Nine of Web Style Guide, 3rd Edition, by Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton
- “World’s Best Headlines: BBC News,” by Jakob Nielsen
- “Speed-Dating Your Source Content in 4 Easy Steps,” by Angie King
Editing and Rewriting
- “Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages,” by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen
- “Attack of the Zombie Copy,” by Erin Kissane
Content Strategy
- “The Discipline of Content Strategy,” by Kristina Halvorson
- “Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data,” by Rachel Lovinger
Technologies Required
- Desktop or laptop computer connected to the internet
- A word processing application like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Pages, or OpenOffice
- A bare-bones text editing application like TextEdit or Notepad