English 421: Technical Writing

http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~pevery/106cr/docs/readweb2.pdf

This article is about how to write white papers for the web.  It's pretty long, which is ironic considering its content.  The main jist of the article is that people who read things on the web, and the computer in general, don't like to sit and read line after line.  More often than not, people tend to skim.  Anyone writing white papers which are to be published to the web, or anything for that matter, should prepare for their writing to not be read in full.

Some things to remember in following this strategy is to make the key points stand out somehow so that the skimmer can still pick them up.  Separating the paper into parts and having huge, bolded titles can help the reader skim.  Side notes can also be helpful.  Pictures and related graphics are also a big boost to the skim-ability.  The best test to see how well yours can be skimmed, as they have done in the article, is to have random people read your website.  Inevitably, they will skim some or all of it.  Afterwards, ask them questions about your key points.  Their answers should tell you if the desired information is the stuff that they are picking up mid-skim.

- Pat Connaughton