Since we are talking about writing styles in this week's IndieWebClub, Bangalore meetup, I think it’s a good idea to outline explicitly some rules which I tend to intuitively use for writing on my blog.
The principles I follow are quite simple:
- Use descriptive anti-clickbait titles
- Use lots of headings inside posts to make them easy to skim
- Limit posts to no more than 3 ideas at a time
Use descriptive, anti-clickbait titles
A title should tell you what you’ll get before you open the post.
This comes primarily from a deep personal hatred of clickbait titles.
I want to you to know — even before you land on an article/post — whether it might be something worth your time or not.
But beyond that, the experience of reading on the web is different from reading something on print. When you’re reading a printed piece, you’ve already made a decision that this is something you are interested in. You don’t mind investing the next 15, 30, or however many minutes or hours sitting down and reading.
On the internet, most people will land on an article by random chance (while they probably have another 20 tabs open, waiting for their attention). People need to be able to decide quickly whether something is worthwhile for them. Having clear, descriptive titles, for me, is a way to respect that
So, my post titles are extremely descriptive, such as my weeknote from last month: Weeknote #7 [W25.46] - Selecting films for Cinema Next Door, the joy of rediscovering something familiar, and building design systems
Use lots of headings inside posts to make them easy to skim
This follows from the previous point. Skim-ability helps readers decide where to focus and where to move on.
Clear, descriptive headings break up posts into smaller, more consumable pieces.
The idea is that you get an idea of what the post is about by scrolling through and having a brief glance a the headings. If a particular section interests you, stop to read (otherwise redirect your attention to one of those 20 open tabs on your browser, or even better if it’s something not on your phone or computer).
Limit posts to no more than 3 ideas at a time
More than 3 disparate ideas at a time = too much cognitive load.
Cognitive load is bad (we are overloaded as it is, being constantly online). And when something tries to cover too many ideas, it becomes so much harder to follow.
This principle comes from my work as a designer... A key principle there is to aim for clarity, and to remove what is inessential. The same principle I try to apply to writing.
The more things you have on your mind, the less time you are likely to spend on questioning, reflecting, and wondering. Whereas, the fewer ideas you hold at once, the more thoughtfully you can explore them.
Note: I realize that I may be writing this with an amount of certainty that is more than I actually feel. I am quite conflicted about the final point. There is value in writing about unconnected ideas together. Bringing together seemingly unrelated ideas can reveal links you wouldn’t notice otherwise. But there’s a point where it becomes too tedious and scattered to be useful. For now, three ideas feels like a good balance.