Note 123 – Organising your web content

This blog marks the end of the fourth month of my writing challenge (eight months to go!). Today I wanted to write about something a little different so I visited one of my favourite websites for inspiration…

…I knew that there had to be a reason why I kept revisiting the Daily Writing Tips website and not even needing to look up the address.  A clever article on there by Mark Nicol called ‘Make sure your website gets an F’  (which caught my eye today) might have been the reason why. Have a read – it’s extremely interesting: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/make-sure-your-website-gets-an-f/.

What did you think? If you didn’t click on the link, I’ll attempt to summarise the article. Daily Writing Tips says that the “F shape is the default setting for displaying written content online”. Those who read from left to right (English readers and other indo-european languages) would naturally fix their initial gaze at the top left hand corner of the screen (this is where Daily Writing Tips have their logo). The reader would then automatically move across to the right, before bringing their gaze back to the beginning of the next line. As they continue to move down the page, they would be mimicking the shape of the letter F.  A reader naturally gives more ‘eye focus’ to the left and less to the right.

When organising your information/writing, if you think about the letter F and put the most valuable web content in that position, you may attract more visitors (or they will at least remember what was on your site and return). Don’t worry, you could tempt the reader to look elsewhere on the screen (if you need them to) by enticing them with a flashy picture or something similar.

My thoughts: Although this isn’t a writing tip as such, I feel that it is an important tip for any writer who wishes to display their work in a way that entices the reader to linger on their words for a longer. It has certainly made me think about the presentation of my website and blog.

That’s it for today. Don’t forget that you can subscribe to receive my daily blogs by email so that you don’t miss any. Just click ‘sign me up’ on the home page. Alternatively you can follow my blogs on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/madeirasandraor my new Tips and Luxuries Facebook page. Requests for future blogs (punctuation/grammar/writing tips) are always welcome.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

My writing challenge: http://wp.me/p1x6Ui-4

This blog: https://mywritingnotebook.wordpress.com

My other blog: http://sandramadeira.wordpress.com

My website: www.tipsandluxuries.com (includes the introduction to my upcoming book ‘A Gift for Stressed and Busy Parents’)

Twitter: @madeirasandra and @tipsandluxuries

Reference list:

Daily Writing Tips – http://www.dailywritingtips.com/make-sure-your-website-gets-an-f/.