Dress your words

The graphic design of a web page is the first thing that strikes an Internet user. Before even starting to read, the user looks at the page, and immediately evaluates its design, colours and graphics. If you find the result pleasing there are more chances that you will linger to read your words. Even in writing a text you can contribute to the aesthetics of the page and the effectiveness of the message: Take care in the arrangement of words in the text, distribute them and group them according to criteria that helps readers to immediately grasp their meaning. And remember that even white spaces have their importance: frame your words leaving spaces, create a clear subdivision between information and distinct concepts.

• Use bold to help your readers to orientate: highlight the keywords in the text and group around them the concepts you want to communicate.
• Be brief: always bear in mind that your readers are fast. So short sentences, short statements, short paragraphs. It is the density of the information that matters, not the length of the story.
• Titles and summaries are fundamental: it is with a look at the title that the user decides whether it is worthwhile to continue reading or not. Evidential, spacers from the article, headlines and summaries create a compass for your readers.

Privilege simple words and short sentences. The text must be fluid and easy to understand. Do not fall into the temptation to use words that are too sought after, you run the risk of confusing or annoying your readers. Form is an integral part of an optimal final result, but remember that the primary objective is communicating useful information. And, as in fashion, often simplicity is the most refined and elegant solution. Taking a cue from the printed newspapers is another effective solution: create incisions, summaries, subtitles. In other words, imagining take your readers by the hand to guide them in what you want to say: create maps, scattered with signposts, let your words be their compass.