10 Principles of Writing for the Web

10 Principles of Writing for the Web 10 Principles of Writing for the Web 10 Principles of Writing for the Web By Mark Nichol Writing for online reading is basically the same as writing for print publications. â€Å"Writing for the Web† is more about the presentation than the content itself, but it does require a shift in thinking and some mechanical changes to prose. Here are some tips: 1. Introductory Text Site visitors rarely read introductory paragraphs on their first visit. Why? Most people arrive at a site via a search engine, so they often bypass the home page. Others, of course, follow a link to a home page, or click on a Home link inside the site to see what else it has to offer, so an introduction isn’t useless, but make it short and sweet, answering the what and the why in as few words as possible. The same goes for introductory text on interior pages. 2. Points of Entry Most people scan, rather than read, Web pages, at least initially. Many, of course, read entire articles and essays, but home pages and other top-level pages should catch visitors’ attention with scannable text like linked or unlinked keywords, practical (not clever) display copy (otherwise known as headings, subheads, and the like), and bullet lists. 3. Pare Paragraphs Brief paragraphs that contain just one idea are ideal for online readers. (See?) 4. Key Facts First Employ the inverted-pyramid model of writing, based on journalistic style, in which the most important information is featured first, followed by decreasingly significant information. One advantage of this strategy is the same one that made it integral in newspaperese: If content is too long, it’s easier just to cut from the bottom rather than try to delete passages throughout. (You can always repurpose the deleted content for another article, or, like many online newspapers, have visitors click to a new page to finish reading.) 5. Link In and Out Provide links to related material on your Web site and on others. Don’t be concerned that visitors won’t come back to your site once they leave; if you routinely send them to good material, and you have good material waiting when they return, they’ll return. 6. Say It Straight Chant your new mantra: SWYM, MWYS. (Say what you mean, mean what you say.) Objectivity equals authority; avoid marketese, promotional excess, hyperbole whatever you want to call it. If people trust you to be evenhanded in your writing style, they will trust you. Also, be literal, not figurative: If, in a heading for a sports story, you use metaphorical language like curse instead of something more concrete like â€Å"losing streak,† you lose the opportunity for search optimization. 7. 1st Words Count Many site visitors scan in a rough F pattern, keeping their eyes on your page’s left-hand margin as they dart slightly along each line before dropping to the beginning of the next. Make the first dozen or so characters in your display type count. Avoid bland and coined terms, and start with keywords. 8. Be Passive Don’t go out of your way to avoid passive sentence construction, at least in initial sentences. Why? â€Å"Mark Nichol recommends that online writers embrace the passive voice so that key information appears up-front in sentences† breaks the rule recommended in the previous paragraph. Who cares about Mark Nichol? Start with the point of the sentence: â€Å"Passive voice is recommended by Mark Nichol to help online writers place key information up-front in sentences.† Of course, you can also place important words at the head of an active sentence: â€Å"Passive voice is useful for placing key information up-front in online writing.† (And leave me out of it.) Note, of course, that not every first sentence in a paragraph or even a section needs to be headed by keywords, but don’t pass up an opportunity to do so. 9. Write Well The best way to attract visitors to your site is to provide them with high-quality content. It may not get them there, but it will keep them coming back. 10. Break Rules Disregard any and all of these rules as you see fit, but know them and apply them often. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Inquire vs Enquire"Gratitude" or "Gratefulness"?Especially vs. Specially

buy custom The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act essay

buy custom The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act essay Since its enactment in 1996, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act have had a profound impact in various domains of the United States healthcare system. Its main role is to protect the privacy of protected health information. This law establishes guidelines that control the sharing of protected health information. Chemical dependency counselors, just like other health professionals collect medical information as well as demographic information from individuals who use their services. This information is classified as Protected Healthcare Information (PHI) which contains individually identifiable health information (Root, 2002). PHI includes demographic information such as an individuals contacts, address, national security number, gender and date of birth in addition to healthcare information. PHI can be communicated in any form; written, spoken, electronically, etc. This paper expresses my views on the HIPPA rules apply to documentation in the field of chemical dep endency counseling. Client record The HIPPA rules require that counselors establish and maintain a client record for every client at the instance of first service delivery. The client record should contain demographic information that identifies the client. After the initial service delivery, the counselor should record the assessment results which include the diagnosis, the clients statement of their problem and the care plan. Further, there should be documentation of all services provided and their times, duration, delivery modes and the state of the client during the time of services discontinuation. There are requirements that counselors maintain a record of al payments received form clients and the charges billed to the counselors (Krager Krager, 2008). These entries should be authenticated. In the case of electronic records, a digital authentication key should be used to authenticate the records. Corrections of entries are required to be marked through with a single line and signed by the counselor. In my view, the stringent record keeping requrements are necessary to avoid documentation problems in the course of the counselors engagement with a client. These rules ensure that documentations are accurate and reflect on the actual situation. Inaccurate documentation is potentially detrimental to the success of a clients treatment plan. In situations where a change of counselor occurs, accurate information should be passed to the next counselor. In case of inaccurate documentation, the counseling plan can be wrongly administered to the client resulting into wastage of time, resources and efforts. Worse still, the customer is left in a worse state than he/she was in before the counseling sessions. The problem of improper documentation is especially harmful to the chemical dependency counseling field due to the nature of psychological treatment plans that require good planning and continuity. Privacy protection HIPAA rules require that the counselor protects client information from unauthorized disclosure. The HIPAA rules stipulate that the client and the counselor have to sign HIPAA agreement papers before commencement of their sessions. The papers are a statement of privacy practices of the facility where the counselor operates. This statement specifies how the counselor can use the information provided in the clients personal file. It also specifies third parties that are allowed to use this information, if any. The counselor and medical staff under him/her are required to sign the agreement at least once annually as an assurance of their awareness of privacy laws, their understanding of the same and their readiness to upholding these laws. In my view, the protection of privacy as provisioned in the HIPAA laws is very important to the client and the entire medical fraternity. Ensuring that this information is only used for the correct purposes that do not jeopardize the normality of clients life is of paramount importance. If shared, chemical dependency issues might lead to unfair discriminations from various quarters of life such as employment and education. People with addictions can be helped out of their preddicaments with proper counseling and guidance. It is therefore unfair to expose such persons to discriminatory treatment that might result from sharing of their personal and medical information. Therefore the HIPAA rules are important in protecting people with chemical dependency issue. They ensure that such people are protected by the law and they get a chance to live just like other people while dealing with their addiction problems. Other issues surrounding HIPAA In addition to client record and protection of private information, there are other issues surrounding HIPAA laws and chemical dependency counseling services. The requirement that counselors keep all the client data helps in coordination of that clients healthcare with other specialists if need when need arises. Such coordination would not be quick enough and efficient if proper client records are not properly kept. This is also helpful in sharing of information with family and friends, and other people that clients deem necessary. There is a need to ensure that HIPAA rules do not hinder the sharing of medical and personal information where it is necessary to do so for various reasons. For instance, a family discovered that their old neighbor was exhibiting signs of mental breakdowns. On taking him to the hospital, treatment was administered to him and since his neighbors were not legally allowed to access his health and personal information, they had to leave him under the care of healthcare providers. With time they could not trace the old man, and despite their goodwill, they were kept away from helping their old neighbor. I therefore find it necessary for HIPAA laws to be amended to allow such concerned parties have access to specific client information, as long as their sincerity can be verified. In conclusion, I believe that the documentation requirements as imposed by the HIPAA rules are largely beneficial, not only to the client but also to other concerned parties. It enhances quick and efficient counseling services and privacy protection for chemical dependency counseling services. Buy custom The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act essay