90 Degrees blog

All week long I've been working on a post for 90 degrés, the agency where I work, and it was finally published this afternoon. But as it's the only English post on our blog (so far), it was only published on the English version of the site.

Someone take pity on it and read it here, please. Make my words feel less lonely. Snif.

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Giving users the tools to build their online experience

I was reading Jakob Neilsen’s AlertBox for June 9, 2008, and I came across some good arguments about writing actionable Web texts that focus on user needs.

However, although Neilsen’s points are persuasive, I only really came to understand the important of his words after following two small rational detours. Here they are:

Getting users involved
The guru of usability writes that the difference between the Web and television can be summarized as lean forward vs. lean back, in that the Web is an active medium used for a specific purpose, while TV is a passive medium allowing viewers to slip into relaxation mode.

DETOUR 1, or defining what makes the Web different

There is so much talk about the rise of the Web and how it may - or may not be - squeezing out other media like print, television and radio.

In my mind, the problem with this kind of thinking is the assumption that the Internet, print, television and radio are all on the same level. As Neilsen writes, each medium has its own audience, context and meaning. They cannot be compared. Think apples and oranges.

The Web is a powerful tool not because it is more effectively persuasive than other media. It is a powerful tool because it is completely different to every other medium we have ever known.

Neilsen on user experience
Further down the page, Neilsen writes, “In linear media — such as print and TV — people expect you to construct their experience for them. Readers are willing to follow the author’s lead. In non-linear hypertext, the rules reverse.”

Users want to construct their own experience by piecing together content from multiple sources, emphasizing their desires in the current moment.

DETOUR 2, or why Web writing is the user experience
In such a context, good Web writing is crucial. Anyone who continues to believe that cutting and pasting generic marketing copy into their website is making a potentially disastrous mistake.

If your Web text does not immediately answer your visitor’s question, they will move on to other sources - and quite possibly never return. Good Web writing will ensure that users stay on – and ideally, return to – your site to satisfy their needs.

Finally, good Web copy is what differentiates the Internet from print, television and radio. Repeat: good copy written specifically for the Web is what makes online communication so powerful.

Indeed, if Web text and print text were exchangeable, then there might be reason to fear the decline of television.

Until then, the only thing television must fear is bad screenwriters.