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This screen aims to provide a basic
introduction to presenting existing paper-based documents on the Web.
For a complete guide to building a website have a look at our
Internet
Development Guides.
Screen based text is
different to print
Presenting documents online is different from presenting them in
print. People use screen-based text differently from print-based
text, and screen-based text is more difficult to read than
print-based. On screen people tend to scan and search for keywords;
they want to find content quickly. They tend not to browse in the
leisurely fashion they might in a bookshop.
Our style guide
recommendation
One of the most popular and valuable style guides for Web-based
material is Patrick Lynch and Sarah Horton's Yale
C/AIM Web Style Guide. Visit
the Guide for a wealth of information on publishing on the World Wide
Web.
Organisations need to
modify material for the Web
Organisations often require reports and other documentation that
already exist in a paper-based form transferred to the Web, to
provide wider and easier access to the material for the intended
users.
Rather than merely transferring the
document from word processor files to the hypertext markup language
(HTML) files needed for World Wide Web delivery, consideration should
be given to the differences between the two media (print and Web) and
the material modified accordingly.
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Adobe
Acrobat for faithful reproduction
If faithful reproduction is
required, then about the only real option at the moment is to
create portable document format (.PDF) files using
Adobe's
Acrobat software: this can be used to create a facsimile of the
original document, maintaining fonts, layout and graphics, by
converting word processor files into electronic files that can be
read on screen by users with Adobe's free Acrobat reader software.
The .PDF files can also be printed out using the same software to
give the user a paper facsimile of the original
document.
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HTML
conversion
Converting existing documents
from word processor formats to HTML is technically a simple
process. There is a number of ways of doing this: Yahoo!, for
example, has a list of links to tools
for HTML conversion which is
useful for finding further information.
There is however a number of things to
consider before simply saving existing word processing or page layout
documents in HTML.
Planning
In planning, decisions should be
made early on in the development process for a document regarding the
form or forms of delivery, and it may be necessary to create a number
of different versions of the document for delivery through different
media.
Also ensure at this early stage that you
get all necessary copyright clearances for the various elements in
the document as these may well be quite different from clearances
required to reproduce these elements in print.
Writing for the
World Wide Web
To make reading and comprehension
easy, screens need to use less text than the printed page, and the
text should be balanced with graphics and white space.
Since people read screens in a different
way to the way they read a paper page, documents destined for the
screen should be more concise and structured than the printed
alternative. People are more likely to print out a screen that is
more than half a page long and read it on paper, rather than read it
on screen.
Length
The World Wide Web is a screen-based
medium where individual Web screens are held as files on a server.
Depending on the length of the original publication, files may be
very large, and therefore take a long time to download and display.
Long documents might be difficult for users to navigate around and
find sections of interest to them.
Break long documents down into
individual files that each represent a screen of information. A good
rule of thumb is that if a screen contains more than about 20 kb of
text it is probably too long. A screen that contains more than about
50 kb overall of text and graphics is also probably too long: it will
take too long to download and will be confusing to read on the
screen. These are rules of thumb only and each page or file should be
considered on its merits.
Electronic
documents
Online documents can be searched,
indexed and hyperlinked. This gives online documents advantages over
printed documents, especially if documents are designed for reference
or review rather than designed to be read from start to
finish.
To realise these benefits, you will need
to ensure that your Web server supports searching, that the documents
are properly indexed and the hyperlinks cross-referencing contents
list, heading and so on are in place when the document is served to a
user.
Hypertext links are "hot" links from one
part of a document to somewhere else in the same document, to another
document or section of a document on the same server or anywhere on
the World Wide Web.
Hypertext links make it possible to
display information differently in a HTML document to how it might be
displayed in a printed document. For example, in a HTML document
footnotes and references can be hypertext links to the actual content
referred to. This content can be stored on any computer with an
Internet connection.
Additional explanations, definitions,
diagrams, details of graphics and other additional material can be
linked easily to any part of the HTML page, even linked to original
source material if the material is on the World Wide Web.
Contents lists and indexes can be "hot"
linked directly to the relevant chapter or item.
Care must be taken with hypertext links.
Too many will render a screen difficult to read and confusing, and
when users follow the links they may get "lost" in a document, not
knowing where they are or being unable to get back to where they were
before following a link.
As a Web author you must make sure your
users know where they are in your site - for example, display screen
names, page numbers and ranges, provide navigation buttons, menus,
tables of contents, and links to major features in your
documents.
You must provide enough information on
each screen so that if a user came directly to that screen from
another site they would know where they were and be able to navigate
around both your document and your site.
Sitemap
Provide a sitemap one click away
from any screen to take users to an overall view of the document so
they can easily return to known territory at any time they feel lost.
A sitemap also gives users a sense of the scope of the document, the
electronic equivalent to gauging the size of a printed document by
just looking at it and flicking through it.
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