February 14, 2008...7:40 pm
Online journalism wins through short ‘chunky’ text
Today I’m going to illustrate a point made on Pat Bradshaw’s Online Journalism Blog. I’ve found several of these tips useful but as mentioned in his first post about brevity, shoveled content tends to fit better in columns on a page than in a frame on a Web site.
As anyone reading this blog knows I’m the editor of a student-run newspaper and from my last post you know that we typically post the stories in our print edition online, maybe with more photos and a link or two.
But when you read those stories you can see the text is lengthy, blocky and overall a strain to read for very long.
As Pat points out, brevity does not mean you can’t write a several-thousand-word masterpiece. Rather he points out that smaller 500 word chunks are more appealing than lengthy, gray prose.
Since I started applying that in my Web journalism class assignment I find that I’m using this technique in my print writing too. The effect means that I’m making it easier to find sections within a piece, which I know is a godsend when you’re trying to remember which graf needs to be reworked.
Keep an eye on The Commuter online: We’re going to start appearing more Web friendly
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