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Writing an E-Pub


OVC increasingly uses the Web as a publishing tool. This section walks you through the basic principles of creating electronic publications—also called e-pubs or e-only documents—intended for distribution exclusively on the Web.

How To Build a Web-Only Document

Writing for the Web differs from writing for print media, but not so much in the writing itself. The difference lies in how you, as the author, conceive and present the information.

E-pubs require that content be organized compartmentally rather than linearly. That is, the information on any one page must be fully understandable to readers who land on the page without having viewed previous pages in your document.

Rachel McAlpine, author of Web Word Wizardry, explains it this way:

The Web is not like a library of books and magazines. It is like hundreds of millions of separate pages blowing around the streets. People pick up one, then another, then another—and each page can come from a different source. . . . Therefore, the text of every Web page should be self-explanatory and make sense all by itself. 1

Principles of Effective Web Writing

 

This document was last updated on September 10, 2004