6. Websites, blogs and wikis
Use web writing strategies for any content you write for websites, blogs or wikis. Remember to check your assignment criteria carefully before you start.
Writing for the web is different from writing for print
Screens don’t hold your audience’s attention as easily as print. People tend to scan and skim when reading online content. They scan the text and jump to headings, bulleted lists and links.
Grab your audience’s attention and convey your message by creating web content that is easy to:
- read — use simple vocabulary and short sentences
- scan — put the most important information at the top, use sub-headings, lists and short paragraphs
- find — use the vocabulary that your audience would use, to make your content easier to find in search engines. Be clear and descriptive.
Avoid using jargon when writing web content
The author, Bill Bryson, describes jargon as “the practice of never calling a spade a spade when you might instead call it a manual earth-restructuring implement”.
Note: A spade is a tool for digging.
Websites
You can sign up to a website building platform to create your own website:
| Tool | Guides | Tutorials | Design tips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Sites | How to use Google Sites | Google Sites Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning, 57m) A Charles Sturt login is required | Choose a Site theme (LinkedIn Learning, 4m40s) A Charles Sturt login is required |
| WordPress | Get started | WordPress Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning, 2h35m) A Charles Sturt login is required | Themes |
| Wix | Getting started with Wix | 10 essential tutorials that every Wix newbie should know | Templates |
HTML, CSS and other web development languages
Website building platforms may not require you to know anything about HTML, CSS or other web development languages. However, knowing a bit about HTML can be useful to identify and fix small glitches that can occur in the source code.
- w3schools lets you try different coding languages in their platform to see how it works
- Learn HTML and CSS to create a website.
Blogs
Blogs are regularly updated websites, usually used to post reflections or ideas on a topic. You can set up a blog on web building platforms like WordPress.
Get more tips on how to communicate effectively online.
Online discussions
You may be required to contribute to your course discussion board as part of your assessment. Think about how your post is related to what you are learning and check your assignment task guide for instruction.
Wikis
Wikis are collaborative webpages. Multiple people can edit the pages and keep track of any changes.
Wikipedia is probably the most well-known wiki. Anyone can edit it, after creating an account.
Read about the Top ten strangest Wikipedia edit wars.
“Edit wars” occur when people, repeatedly, make conflicting edits to a page. Any changes can be reversed. Some people get banned from further editing if they breach Wikipedia’s Policies and guidelines
Embed interesting elements on webpages
- When embedding images on webpages, it is a good idea to have a small file size to reduce the time it takes for your image to load on the page.
tiny png is an online tool for reducing the file size of PNG and JPG image files. It’s free for images up to 5MB each.
Drop or upload a PNG or JPG file to tiny.png, to see how much you can reduce the file size.
Other media you might like to embed on your websites:
- Videos — many video hosting sites have an embed code on their videos. Often the embed code is an iframe
- Timeline tool — if your presentation has a chronological narrative, you might like to use a timeline tool
- Juxtapose tool — this tool is useful for comparing images and gifs. You can highlight changes over time or dramatic events
- A poll or survey tool — Crowd Signal lets you embed polls, surveys and quizzes into webpages. You can sign up for a free plan.
