Adamsen Abrams

We're all Tech Writers Now: Three Steps to Clear Writing for the Web Take some tips from technical writing that may make your ideas clear and persuasive in the brand new reading environment of the net.    Print media puts the reader in the passenger's seat. What if you don't want a character to die? Imagine if you don't just like the direction the story has had? Traditional reading is linear--you start at chapter one and you also visit the end, with no detours in between.    Instruction manuals have always been different. Who reads instruction manuals from starting to end? Instead you dip involved with it, try something, and if that doesn't seem to work, flip several pages backward or forward and try again.    Now the internet has become a huge manual where the reader can maneuver around at will--technology has stolen authorial control. You need to expect your readers to jump around. To reach your goals, anything you write for the net has to follow the same three rules that technical writers use:    Write in Chunks    Readers pick and choose. Understand that write for us technology isn't expecting a story--they have specific goals. Points have to be self-contained and clearly marked to help them find what they're searching for and move ahead. Respect your reader's time--don't make them eat the sundae when all they want is the cherry.    Follow a Structure    You can structure your content by category, rank, location--but there has to be a structure. By organizing your information you are giving your reader a tool that lets them find what they're looking for and skip what they don't really need. If you can't find a structure that works, you must define your points more clearly.    Connect it Together    You can't force your reader to check out the path you've set for them, nevertheless, you can give them access to information that supports your message. You shouldn't be afraid to link, both to resources outside your document and to pages in it. Your role would be to help them achieve their goals; point them towards resources that help them do that.    Like technical writing, the internet is about helping people find information. Adopt a number of the principals of technical writing in your own work to create it get results.

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