Web Content Series: Make content scannable

Readers scan online content—titles, headings, paragraphs, links—and decide quickly if content is meaningful to them. When they find what they need, they’ll continue reading. The following guidelines can help you write and deliver content that the reader needs, right when they need it.

• Use keywords in headings and subheadings
• Provide links in the Table of Contents
• Create lists in bullet format
• Write content in concise, short paragraphs, or chunks
• Include adequate white space between chunks of information
• Place the most important content at the top of the web page or on the first screen
• Eliminate the need for the user to scroll through content by reducing word count or dividing content into separate topics on individual pages

More in this series

Web Content Series: Organize Your Content, 23 April 2012

Web Content Series: Write Descriptive Links, 27 April 2012

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Resources: Microsoft Manual of Style, 4th Edition.

What other strategies do you use to make text scannable?