Don't bury the message

An article called Writing for the Web can be found on the Dartmouth Web site and is a good reminder that we have very little time to capture a readers attention.

An item of interest:

"Visual distraction. Colored and underlined text within body text pulls the eye by disrupting the uniformity of the text block. If you place a link within a paragraph, the user's eye will be drawn to the link. Many users will click on that link directly without ever reading the text that forms its context."

In yet another dichotomy, it's clear that we want to provide links to more information but these links definitely distract. When I'm reading some of my own pages, I've been frustrated because the link is the first thing that catches my eye on the page and that's really not what I want. The link takes the reader to information that is ancillary to the main purpose of the page.

Boldface type can be used (and color too) to give those who are scanning a page something easy to grab. But boldface and or colored type appear to indicate that something is a link. Placing all the links in one location on the bottom of the page or in a side bar is a better strategy than putting links in the middle of a paragraph where they are distracting (or rather attracting).

The mysterious dimension

Every now and then, after putting a fairly decent amount of time into special content for a Web page, whether it's video, audio or photo galleries, I wonder if the information is getting to the right audience--if it's something interesting enough for visitors to read, view or listen to. Checking statistics on who is visiting and what they're doing doesn't seem to be something we have time to do regularly. Without this, however, we're working under the assumption that visitors to our site are getting what they want but the reality may be different.

These analytics (hmmm, hope this is the right word) are a mystery. Where are they? How do we get them? What help could they be in planning and preparing content for future pages?

Sometimes it takes awhile for content to get on a Web page. The Web page may be ready before all the special content is programmed and made available. Do we put the Web page up as is and add to it? Do people come back or once a person views the page is the opportunity lost for any special content that might come later to have an impact?

With YouTube I noticed is that it takes quite awhile to accumulate viewers. At first it seems like you're flying under the radar and then suddenly there are 3,000 viewers. Does the Web work the same? Do viewers multiply the longer information is available? What's the best method for directing people to the site?

It's as if we're operating in another dimension. There's a world on the other side of the computer screen that is buzzing with activity but on our side, we cannot see what's happening there very clearly. Maybe it's just a guessing game where you test an idea and if it doesn't work, you change it. But how much does a bad guess cost and how much is a good guess wasted if it's not marketed properly?