6. Websites, blogs and wikis
Use web writing strategies for any content you write for websites, blogs or wikis. Remember to check your assignment criteria carefully before you start.
Writing for the web is different than writing print
Screens don’t hold your audience’s attention as easily as print. People tend to scan and skim when reading online content. They scan the text and jump to headings, bulleted lists and links.
Grab your audience’s attention and convey your message by creating web content that is easy to:
- read — use simple vocabulary and short sentences
- scan — put the most important information at the top, use sub-headings, lists and short paragraphs
- find — use the vocabulary that your audience would use, to make your content easier to find in search engines. Be clear and descriptive.
Avoid using jargon when writing web content
The author, Bill Bryson, describes jargon as “the practice of never calling a spade a spade when you might instead call it a manual earth-restructuring implement”.
Note: A spade is a tool for digging.
Websites
You can sign up to a website building platform to create your own website:
| Tool | Free account available | Guides | Tutorials | Design tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Sites | Yes | How to use Google Sites | Googe Sites Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning, 57m) A UQ login is required | Choose a Site theme (LinkedIn Learning, 4m40s) UQ login required |
| WordPress | Yes | Get started | WordPress Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning, 1h54m) A UQ login is required | Themes |
| Wix | Yes | Getting started with Wix | 10 essential tutorials that every Wix newbie should know | Templates |
HTML, CSS and other web development languages
Website building platforms may not require you to know anything about HTML, CSS or other web development languages. Knowing a bit about HTML can be useful to identify and fix small glitches that can occur in the source code.
- w3schools lets you try different coding languages in their platform to see how it works
- Learn HTML and CSS to create a website.
Blogs
Blogs are regularly updated websites, usually used to post reflections or ideas on a topic. You may be asked to create a blog post or comment on other blog posts in Learn.UQ for your course.
Get more tips on how to communicate effectively online.
You can set up a blog on web building platforms like WordPress.
Online discussions
You may be required to contribute to your course discussion board as part of your assessment.
Get tips on how to use the Learn.UQ discussion board.
Wikis
Wikis are collaborative webpages. Multiple people can edit the pages and keep track of any changes.
Learn how to edit a wiki on Learn.UQ.
Wikipedia is probably the most well-known wiki. Anyone can edit it, after creating an account.
Read about the Top ten strangest Wikipedia edit wars.
“Edit wars” occur when people, repeatedly, make conflicting edits to a page. Any changes can be reversed. Some people get banned from further editing, if they breach Wikipedia’s Policies and guidelines
Embed interesting elements on webpages
You can often embed different kinds of media into webpages. In Learn.UQ use the:
- Text editor to embed hyperlinks, files, images and equations
- Mashup option to embed videos and voice recordings.
When embedding images on webpages, it is a good idea to have a small file size to reduce the time it takes for your image to load on the page. Read more about file formats in the Working with Data and Files module.
tiny png is an online tool for reducing the file size of PNG and JPG image files. It’s free for images up to 5MB each.
Drop or upload a PNG or JPG file to tiny.png, to see how much you can reduce the file size.
Other media you might like to embed on your websites:
- Videos — many video hosting sites have an embed code on their videos. Often the embed code is an iframe
- Timeline tool — if your presentation has a chronological narrative, you might like to use a timeline tool
- Juxtapose tool — this tool is useful for comparing images and gifs. You can highlight changes over time or dramatic events
- A poll or survey tool — Crowd Signal lets you embed polls, surveys and quizzes into webpages. You can sign up for a free plan.
