WEB vs. PRINT

After reading Spider100 Do’s and Don’ts and the Web Style Guide, and having reviewed the elements of style, I was able to come up with some differences and similarities between writing for the web, and paper-based writing.

In the Spider 100 reading, I found many similarities with paper writing when it came to being grammatically correct, matters of spelling, writing about the subject, and knowing your audience. Whoever you are writing for and however your communicating, these three things still need to be very clear. Just because you are writing for the web does not mean that you can have misspelled words. In both print and the web, the subject and topic of discussion must be clear. When it comes to feedback, the way in which it is received may be different, but they still are welcomed. No one should publish anything without having it reviewed by an outside party.
One difference I noticed with the Spider 100 reading vs. print was the short sentences that are necessary for the web. The web is so fast paced, and when people are surfing the web they want to get information quickly. They don’t care for technical writing, or long explanations, short sentences are best for the web.

In reading the web style guide, one similarity I noticed with print was the organization of the information. The processes may vary in direction, but are accomplishing the same goal of clearly presenting the information. The five steps to organization from the web guide were: divide your content into logical units, establish a hierarchy of importance among the units, use the hierarchy to structure relations among units, build a site that closely follows your information structure, and analyze the functional and aesthetic success of your system. With this in relation to print, there has to be the same kind of organization; dividing paragraphs into logical sections, establishing the piece in order of importance (depending on the piece), and building on that draft.A major difference in the web style guide was planning. A majority of the people who are involved in the planning of the website, will never actually use the website. Companies hire someone to make their companies website, but that person has no immediate connection to the company. So when the site is being planned out and the layout, color, content and everything is being worked on, the client who is requesting the service is not even present. This is very different from the planning for a print document. There is much more hands on involvement, foe example with a book or a magazine. Since the web is more advanced people feel the need to let someone else take on the task, and don’t really get that involved.