We're all busy, flooded with things to read! On the web, we just want the information we're looking for, now! People don't read on the web, they scan. So when writing for the web, make it easy for your visitors to find what they are looking for by using the inverted pyramid format, lots of whitespace, lists (with or without bullets), and fewer, less complex words.

Give your visitors the most important information in the first paragraph on each page. In journalism, this is often called the "inverted pyramid format", and it works well in today's web. Instead, too often we force our visitors to read a long column of text that establishes the groundwork for our conclusion. Your site is neither a high school essay nor a joke (we hope!). So putting the punch line first is not going to ruin it. Rather, your intention is to draw in your visitors so that they will be interested in reading the supporting information that follows.

Finish the article...

ICANN, the organization that oversees the rules governing Internet domain names, voted recently to accept applications to create any top level domain (TLD) name. The new rules will allow, for example, Nike to apply for the TLD .nike, and Microsoft to apply for .microsoft. The application would come with a price tag of an estimated USD$100,000 - USD$500,000. Not priced for small businesses! In addition, the applicant will also need to show a "business plan and technical capacity" to prove they are capable of operating a TLD.

While .com is still the coveted TLD for businesses, the proliferation to date of additional TLDs is confusing to many.

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When was the first cable laid that successfully allowed instantaneous communication between the North America and Europe?

• 1858
• 1912
• 1925
• 1944
• 1951

Click on your choice to see the correct answer!