Netiquette
E-guides on social interaction and communicating electronically
Communicating clearly on the Internet
without creating misunderstandings is a challenge.
One problem is that you haven't any facial expressions, body language, or environment to help you express yourself;
another that there is little "give and take" for developing what you mean to say or are discussing
These guidelines hopefully will help you:
- Be clear
Make sure the subject line (e-mail) or title (web page) reflects your content
- Use appropriate language
If you have a question on whether or not you are too emotional,
don't send the message, save it, and review it "later"
Remember: no one can guess your mood, see your facial expressions, etc.
All they have are your words, and your words can express the opposite of what you feel
Don't use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS--it's equal to shouting or screaming
- Be brief
If your message is short, people will be more likely to read it
Refer to the Guide on "Writing for the Internet"
- Make a good impression
Your words and content represent you; review/edit your words and images before sending
- Be selective on what information
you put in an e-mail or on a web site:
Information on the Internet is very public, and can seen by anyone in the world including criminals, future employers, and governments
- Forward e-mail messages you receive
only with permission of the sender
- Remember you are not anonymous
What you write in an e-mail and web site can be traced back to you
- Consider others
If you are upset by what you read or see on the Internet, forgive bad spelling or stupidity;
If you think it violates the law, forward it to the FBI or your state's Attorney General
- Obey copyright laws
Don't use others' images, content, etc. without permission
Don't forward e-mail, or use web site content without permission
Visit the Library of Congress' Guide on "Copyright Basics"
- Cite others' work you use
Refer to the Guide on "Citation"
- Use distribution lists appropriately
and with permission
- Do not send SPAM
SPAM is posting or e-mailing unsolicited e-mail, often advertising messages, to a wide audience
(another way of thinking of it is electronic junk mail)
- Don't forward chain letters
If you receive one, notify your web master
- Don't respond to "flames" or personal attacks
Contact your web master for action and referral
Writing for effective Web pages
What not to do:
Print this and read it and you will find it is easier than reading it on the screen. Writing for the Web is not like writing on an 8.5 X 11" piece of paper. When you write on a piece of paper your eyes can scan down the discrete print format, jump to headings and paragraphs, turn pages, etc. The document is readily accessible, and our eyes have been trained and have adapted to paper as the medium. It is different for a computer screen's monitor. Small type is difficult to read because of the resolution of the type's display. Sentences fill the width of the monitor, and often are too wide. The writing style differs. Instead, browsers (you) on the web want to know immediately if the page is relevant to what they are looking for. For that reason, a "bottom down" approach is necessary, with the conclusion or summary at the top. This may seem like a superficial treatment of subject matter, and it can be. However, keep in mind that millions of websites compete to deliver information, and if your website is written in a clear, direct manner, you will succeed in delivering information.
Badly designed websites come in several varieties: One of the worst is a page that is text heavy, which reads like "Moby Dick". Interminable text goes on and on demanding perseverance to get to the good parts. "Computer eyes" tire way before they get to this point. This is not to say that a page of heavy text is not appropriate for the web! Rather, the web can be a very effective way of delivering information that is printed, and then read. It is said that "reading" webpages is 25% slower than on paper.
Another variety of bad design is graphics heavy: extensive graphics not only take a long time to download, but can obscure your message. Often little ditsy graphics blinking and bouncing across the screen distract the reader. Banners (advertisements?) which have nothing to do with the content similarly overwhelm or obscure the message. Confusing images mislead the browser, confusing where to go in the website for more information, or leaving you in a limbo of irrelevant information. Often graphics take an inordinate time to download, and a long download time yields impatience. The end result: viewers move on.
Writing effective Web pages:
- The topic, its main idea, and its conclusion
should be immediately visible, locatable, or knowable
- Ideas rule structure
main ideas at the "top" of the screen;
supporting and secondary information below
- Structure of the content and the website
should be readily recognizable to your visitor
- Simple constructions are best;
limit one idea to a group of words, whether sentence, phrase, paragraph
- Avoid technical terminology
unless you clearly and intentionally have its purpose in mind and definition available
- Data, detail, and complexity
are subjects for subsequent pages and should be logically placed
- Each subsequent page's content
should be apparent by its link, and consistent with its predecessor
- Detailed information
can be accessed through links for printing
- Edit out the superfluous
no matter how clever if it detracts from your message
- Spell check,
then have your pages independently proof-read
- Always focus on your message.
Invite feedback with a "mailto" for comments, suggestions, questions to enhance the effectiveness of your website; ignore (don't respond to or waste your time on) idiotic responses
- Formatting:
- Each page should be consistent in design
- Use a table, one row/one column, to center your text in the monitor's display (80% or so) to create margins left and right
- leave white space between paragraphs to enhance readability
- reinforce text
- elaborate on text
- highlight text
- replace text
- be meaningless and distracting (not!)
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