Writing web-pages

Writing web-pages:

People read web-pages on the screen slower than the printed word and tend to scan for keywords, presumably because many are paying by the minute for their internet access or telephone call.

Here are some tips that I have picked up:

Keep the layout simple.
Use a large size of letter and a sans-serif font.
Use contrasting colours for the text and background.
Avoid flashing and moving text.
Avoid background colours that cause glare.
Keep the layout style consistent across the web-pages on the website.
Avoid large tracts of text (unless you specifically wish the reader to print it out to read later).
Use section titles (headlines) to make it easy for visitors to find what they want.
Keep sentences short or write in note/bullet-point style.
Separate blocks of text.
Adopt a "bottom down" or journalistic style with your conclusions first and the evidence following.
Use tables to list things, use more than one column, but avoid 'nested tables'.
Don't use bold/capitals/italics to emphasise too many things.
Don't use underlines for emphasis - they will be confused with hyperlinks.
Don't use graphics links, unless you also use a text link; some surfers may have turned the graphics off so only view the text on your pages.
Give good descriptions in your links and include a warning if they lead to large files.
Make your pages 'printer friendly'.
Don't publish anonymously - always include your e-mail address so users can send you comments or questions.
Don't plagiarise by publishing other people's work - seek their permission to quote from it.
Keep the navigation simple and consistent.
Colour code the pages within a series using the same backgrounds.
Avoid jumping into the middle of a sequence of pages.
Always include an escape back to your home/index page for those who get lost or have jumped in from an external site.
Keep pictures and graphics files as small as possible, they take longer to download than text!
Only use your very best pictures - the pictures should speak for themselves and have lots of contrast. It is very tempting to use lots of pictures especially if have taken a lot of trouble over them and they mean a lot to you - but it is not like viewing a family album or slide show where you are there to point out the important bits or explain things if the viewer does not understand what they are looking at.
Don't waste peoples' time by having links to empty pages that are 'under construction'.
Don't have 'pop-up' windows - these are very annoying!
Don't use 'frames' unless you are an expert! It is very easy to get it wrong.
Avoid using long bulletted lists.
Bear in mind that people may just view or print out just one page of your website, so ideally each page should be self-contained. Either keep pages short and obviously part of a sequence or make sure they can be understood on their own.

The main principle is that people surfing the net need to be able to tell immediately if your web page is going to be of interest to them, so you need to design a page that downloads the important content fast.

I would suggest that only bold is used emphasisng things in text. Underlining is used for hyperlinks, italics should be used for foreign words or the titles of books or journals, and the use of CAPITALS is considered as 'shouting' in 'netiquette' and can confuse text-reading software.