Writing for the web

Some of our recent work at Centre for Information Design Research for GOV.UK has just been published and blogged. We looked at GOV.UK's internal guidelines for text preparation for the web and provided research background that either supported their guidelines or suggested different approaches to presenting information. Many government web sites are not just providing information, but explaining to people how to do things (make applications, check eligibility, provide evidence etc.) and it is this 'reading to do' that needs particular support in carefully crafted text that is comprehensive but also navigable and concise.