Remember, or be forgotten
I really hope this isn't too similar to my last entry...sadly, I didn't realize the area that I focused on last time was pretty much the entire subject of chapter two.
A whole lot of this advice sounds like common sense. But I don't think any of us would be surprised to be shown websites that follow none of the guidelines Kilian lays out.
"People produced cluttered, ugly documents with several fonts per page, plus Dingbats and clip art. Website creators are still doing awful things with graphics and audio, partly because they can and partly because they don't yet know they shouldn't."
--Writing for the Web 3.0, page 16
The good thing about the internet: Anyone can edit it.
The bad thing about the internet: Anyone can edit it.
Some other good points were made about style and tone. Who wants to read your angry, incomprehensible, and maybe even pointless ravings? The author is really reminding us to consider our readers. If a website is online, it should be there for a purpose (I know this isn't always the case, but let me have my dreams). Your website isn't your private journal. It's written for an audience. Remember them, or they'll forget you.
kthxbai
A whole lot of this advice sounds like common sense. But I don't think any of us would be surprised to be shown websites that follow none of the guidelines Kilian lays out.
"People produced cluttered, ugly documents with several fonts per page, plus Dingbats and clip art. Website creators are still doing awful things with graphics and audio, partly because they can and partly because they don't yet know they shouldn't."
--Writing for the Web 3.0, page 16
The good thing about the internet: Anyone can edit it.
The bad thing about the internet: Anyone can edit it.
Some other good points were made about style and tone. Who wants to read your angry, incomprehensible, and maybe even pointless ravings? The author is really reminding us to consider our readers. If a website is online, it should be there for a purpose (I know this isn't always the case, but let me have my dreams). Your website isn't your private journal. It's written for an audience. Remember them, or they'll forget you.
kthxbai
some of those pages just make people look like ignorant jerks. Like that guy who wrote a blog blasting the alleged "Palin hacker". The site had flaming devils and twisted stuff all over it. The only reason I found it was because I typed "David Kernell" into google. He reminds me of the kid you knew in high school who ran around saying all this ignorant stuff he thought was funny. He never knew peopl were laughing at him, not with him. But that's the beauty and horror of the internet: the hacker basher will never know what people think of him. He's just throwing it out there.
I've noticed how people online seem to think they are cooler than they really are. I think this is what you're hinting at, Dani, with your example of the hacker basher. It seems that many authors of blogs or web pages don't keep their audience in mind. Don't get me wrong, most do, but there's always a few bad apples. Every once in a while I'll see a website where the author obviously wasn't writing to the audience, he/she was writing to see themselves write. It kind of defeats the purpose of writing for an audience, when all you do is try to be witty and entertaining, forgetting about moral code and unbiased writing. What about fairness? Webtext is supposed to interest the reader for the purpose of the information behind it, not for the sake of interesting the reader.
I write my blog as if it were for a public audience, even though most entries fail to be read even by me. I just never know who will click on my page. Yesterday, there were a bunch of people walking around my dorm saying that they saw my blog. First, I don't want them to read it and say that all I know how to do is swear and make jokes, and I also do not want them to think that I am a sloppy writer. I think that the moral we can all take away from this is that we should write all our papers like it is on our blog, and anyone can see it.
Jed--after your unorthodox and slightly disturbing comment-soliciting, are you claiming to be surprised by the fact you get readers? Hehe, kidding.
I know I write my blog entries in a different style than I do my essays. I'll admit it, even I feel like this is a more 'casual' environment. Plus, my readers can close the tab at any minute if I get boring, whereas my teachers are stuck reading an essay, no matter how bad it is. (Ok, I know that analogy failed, but you get the idea)