The Evolution of Writing on the Web
Experimental post about how writing should evolve to fit the modern web surfer.
Why New Styles are Needed
- Articles should be swifter for the web.
- People want to read less as they have more to read.
- Top ten lists and bullet-point articles make it easier to get through.
- You can skip around between parts, pick up where you left off.
How Did We Write?
- Old writing was based on a longer attention span.
- It had deeper stylistic integrity that the form afforded.
- Structures of sections of paragraphs of sentences of words.
The New Style, Evolved from the Old
- Headings of bullets of sentences of words.
- Pictures to anchor each part (not shown here).
- Barer sentences, with less complexity.
- Like a powerpoint put through a wringer.
The Old Style Lives On
- Books and periodicals, along with some traditionalist sites.
- Nice for articles you want to go deeper into.
- Side-by-side old and new allows for reader choice.
Benefits of the New Style
- Students learn outline forms more easily.
- Reading comprehension goes up for the new form.
- Discussion is simplified through easily-referenced sentences?
- Improves collaborative editing and creation.
Downsides of the New Style
- Students dislike the old style even more than they already did.
- Comprehension of the old style diminishes further.
- Discussions are based on less nuance (Fox Newsier discussions prevail).
I Dunno.
- I’m curious whether this sort of writing style should become more dominant.
- I think it has some benefits for the way people use the modern web.
- Easier to read casually.
- Possibly more accessible to AI.
- Less opportunity for verbosity.
- So I wrote this in a version of what the new style may be, to see what it’s like.
- Oy vey. I’m hoping that there can be some balance. I do think language and writing styles need to evolve to fit the needs of readers, and long-winded writing can be a pain to read (especially as the number of things to read grows), but let’s hope it won’t be a bullet-point-riddled future.
- One promising alternative is that AI will allow for real-time reorganization/editing of long texts to elicit the parts the reader is most interested in.