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We're all Tech Writers Now: Three Steps to Clear Writing for the Web Take write for us technology from technical writing that may make your opinions clear and persuasive in the brand new reading environment of the web. Print media puts the reader in the passenger's seat. Imagine if you do not want a character to die? What if you don't just like the direction the story has taken? Traditional reading is linear--you start at chapter one and you go to 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 a few 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 will need to expect your readers to jump around. To be successful, whatever you write for the web has to follow exactly the same three rules that technical writers use: Write in Chunks Readers choose. Recognize that your audience is not 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 need. If you can't look for a structure that works, you have to define your points more clearly. Connect it Together You can't force your reader to check out the path you've set for them, but you can give them access to information that supports your message. Don't be afraid to link, both to resources outside your document also to pages inside it. Your role would be to help them achieve their goals; point them towards resources that help them do this. Like technical writing, the web is approximately helping people find information. Adopt a number of the principals of technical writing is likely to work to create it get results.
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