Writing for the Web: Organizing Content

Think about the best way to organize items on a page. Alphabetical order only works if someone is looking for a known item and they use the same language as you do.

Put the most important items first.

Use numbered lists if appropriate.

Divide web content by:

• Time or sequence
• Format of material, e.g. ebooks
• Task
• People
• Type of information
• Questions people ask

Help people see quickly if they need information on a page using the strategies below.

What Comes First

• Begin with the conclusion – use the “Inverted Pyramid” approach.
• Place the most important information first or a summary giving a sense of page content.

Break Up Ideas

• Use one idea per paragraph.
• Break information into paragraphs, rather than one large chunk of text.
• On the web, a one sentence paragraph is okay.
• Make the topic sentence of each paragraph descriptive of the rest of the paragraph. Keywords first – place keywords first in headings and subheadings, and links.

Use Lists and Tables

• Lists and tables might be better than paragraphs.
• Transform long paragraphs into concise bulleted or numbered lists when possible to facilitate scanning.

Headings help readers navigate web pages and find the information they need.

What Good Headings Do

• Get the reader interested
• Give readers an overview of the content
• Help readers scan the page and find what they want
• Make content appear less dense
• Help the writer organize material

Characteristics of Good Headings

• Short and direct
• Use keywords
• Use powerful language