Return to Menu

Writing For Media

The first challenge of writing for multimedia is to break away from one's traditional orientation in the use of text. Schooling has taught us that a piece 8.5 x 11-inch of paper is to be filled with the printed word. Yet, the computer screen is not another piece of blank paper.

True there are those instances such as this newsletter, which are text oriented. But even here the use of brief sentences and short paragraphs as well as navigation tools facilitate a reader's choice as to what to read and in what order.

Text as used in multimedia needs to be designed as one element in an array of images, sounds, animation, and infographics. How one organizes information and facilitates the user's navigation through it, becomes the second challenge in writing for multimedia.

This week I am recommending a number of online references that should be of value in the design of web based and interactive multimedia products. I hope you find these of value.

The first reference is Writing For Media by Michael Butgzy. This guide will not show you how to write your next feature film. But, it is an excellent resource for those who need to know how to effectively present information on the web or a disc. The emphasis is getting the user involved and letting the interactive nature of computer base media be fully utilized.

The Web Style Guide focuses on the functionality of good design. There are eight chapters including 1: Process, 2: Interface Design, 3: Site Design, 4: Page Design, 5: Typography, 6: Editorial Style, 7: Graphics, and 8: Multimedia.

Sun Microsystems has on line Writing to Be Read an effective guide written by Jacob Nielsen. It contains practical advice based page design and the consistent use of textual elements.

The Editing for Hypertext publication by Rick Ellis at the University of Washington provides excellent examples of how to edit and present text for the web. As noted above, the writing and editing of text for interactive media is much different that what most of us are used to from other processes.

Finally, Writing for Effective Web Pages provides insight into how one can keep the delivery of text simple, direct, and effective.