Writing for the Web: Skills for Reaching an Online Audience

Frequently Asked Questions

Will this course help me design a Web site? This course deals exclusively with Web content rather than design tools. You gain the skills to build compelling content, but for Web design you need Course 487, Designing and Building Great Web Pages: Hands-On. What is this course about? This course is about making readers more likely to stay on, and return to, your Web site. Readers on the Web are practical and impatient: They come to the Web wanting to quickly find information and to solve a problem. They only give Web sites a short window of opportunity to fulfill their needs. If readers are unable to quickly locate information on your Web site they will move on to other Web sites. In this course, you learn how to Identify Web site readers Understand how readers process a Web site Write and structure content to support the way that readers process a Web site Who will benefit from this course? This course is valuable for anyone maintaining online content, including: Technical writers transitioning to Web writing Content providers for organizational Web sites or company intranets Web designers who want to improve their content creation skills Executives who must evaluate Web sites and allocate resources. Executives who need to clearly communicate expectations about a company Web site or intranet Marketing professionals writing Web content for their organizations What background do I need? Familiarity with a word processing package and Web browsers is assumed. I already write Web content. Will I benefit from this course? The aim of this course is to help improve the 'stickiness' of a Web site. If you are an experienced Web writer and feel you need to refresh your skills, or if you want to learn new techniques for writing targeted and effective Web content, this course will be helpful for you. Do I have to know HTML or CSS to take this course? No. This course is not intended for people who wish to design a Web site or learn HTML, Web 2.0 or any other Web technology. Do I need to be a programmer? No. You do not need to be a Web programmer to take this course. What specific tools and techniques will be covered? In this course, you learn how to organize information using manual paper-based techniques. The tools and techniques apply to any Web server or Web site. Does this course cover everything I need to know to create a Web site? While this course covers the processes needed to create Web content, you do not learn how to design or develop an entire site. This course focuses only on the writing component of Web design. How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours Thinking before writing 2.0 Structuring your content 2.0 Writing content for an effective site 2.0 Keeping the audience reading 2.0 Writing for the world 1.5 Enhancing usability and access 1.5 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. How much of this course is hands-on? You spend approximately 40 percent of class time engaged in hands-on exercises, actively applying the techniques covered in the course. You work in writing teams of two and participate in larger groups for brainstorming and concept development. Hands-on exercises include writing and editing practice as well as employing organizational software for Web content design. Is this a class on English grammar? No. This course has limited coverage of the mechanics of the English language. Topics such as punctuation, style and grammar are only covered in relationship to their effectiveness in creating Web content. You should possess a basic grasp of English grammar. Is this course applicable to a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification? Yes. Although this course is not designed as preparation for the exam, it is beneficial to anyone working toward PMI's PMP certification. For those who are currently certified, completion of this course counts as 11 professional development units (Sixty units must be completed every three years to maintain certification). For more details, please see the Learning Tree PMI Registered Education Provider Q&A. If you are an experienced project manager intending to take the PMP exam, you should take Course 276, Preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP®) Exam. In this course, you learn essential PMBOK® Guide - Third Edition terminology, tools and techniques. You gain practical test-taking experience through PMI-style practice exams and create your own personal study plan for continued use after the course. How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses? The following Learning Tree courses expand upon the Web design and writing concepts covered in Course 221: In Course 470, Developing a Web Site: Hands-On, you gain the knowledge to build a well-designed Web site. You learn how to design and publish Web pages using HTML; configure a Web server; and capture, retrieve and display information via a database. Course 487, Designing and Building Great Web Pages: Hands-On, provides the skills to design and deliver professional Web pages. You learn how to create and develop effective graphical content using tools such as Photoshop, Fireworks, MS Expression and Dreamweaver. In Course 319, Technical Writing: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, you gain the skills to assess the needs of your readers and create a variety of technical documents. You learn the mechanics of good writing, techniques for document design and the best use of graphics. The following courses may also be of interest: 489, JavaScript for Web Development: Hands-On  522, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for Web Page Development: Hands-On  542, XML: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction  292, Communication Skills: Results Through Collaboration  340, Project Management for Software Development  296, Project Management: Skills for Success  548, Hands-On Dreamweaver®: Building Robust Web Applications

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