Take some tips from technical writing that will make your ideas clear and persuasive in the brand new reading environment of the web.

write for us technology puts the reader in the passenger’s seat. What if you do not want a character to die? What if you don’t just like the direction the story has had? Traditional reading is linear–you start at chapter one and you also go to the end, with no detours in between.

Instruction manuals have always been different. Who reads instruction manuals from beginning to end? Instead you dip into it, try something, and when that doesn’t appear to work, flip several pages backward or forward and try again.

Now the internet has turned into a huge manual where the reader can move around at will–technology has stolen authorial control. You will need to expect your readers to jump around. To be successful, anything you write for the net has to follow exactly the same three rules that technical writers use:

Write in Chunks

Readers pick and choose. Recognize that your audience isn’t expecting a story–they have specific goals. Points must be self-contained and clearly marked to greatly help them find what they’re looking for and move on. Respect your reader’s time–don’t make them eat the sundae when all they need is the cherry.

Follow a Structure

You can structure your articles by category, rank, location–but there has to be a structure. By organizing your information you’re giving your reader an instrument that lets them find what they’re looking for and skip what they don’t need. If you cannot find a structure that works, it is advisable to define your points more clearly.

Connect it Together

You can’t force your reader to follow the path you’ve set for them, but you can give them usage of information that supports your message. Avoid being afraid to link, both to resources outside your document also to pages in it. Your role would be to help them achieve their goals; point them towards resources that help them do that.

Like technical writing, the internet is approximately helping people find information. Adopt some of the principals of technical writing in your own work to make it get results.