To be effective, a Web site must possess the same essential qualities as all other workplace communications: usability and persuasiveness. Consequently, many of the strategies you use when creating reader-centered print documents will also help you construct effective Web sites. However, to construct successful, reader-centered Web sites, you must also develop new communication skills. That's because readings screens differs significantly from reading paper.
Web sites present readers with a less accommodating reading environment than the printed page. Scrolling, the poor resolution of computer screens, and the fact that screens aren't as movable or flexible as paper makes reading on screen more difficulty than reading print. People using your site rely on you to make it as easy as possible for them to read your Web pages.
Web sites require readers to search for information in different ways. In print communications, every page is on a different surface. Consequently, readers can flip quickly through a communication to find the page they want. At a Web site, however, all pages are on the same surface: the computer screen. As a result, readers can't flip through the pages of a Web site. Also, the pages of a print communication are arranged in a linear order, and pages remain in that order so that readers know what preceded and what follows each page. At a Web site, however, the pages do not have a fixed order, and moving from one specific page to another can be difficult. Readers depend on you to construct a site that makes it easy as possible to find what they want in this nonlinear space.
A Web site's appearance is partly controlled by the reader. When you design a printed document, you determine exactly what your readers will see. In contrast, the size of your reader's computer screens, the browsers they use, and the browser settings they choose all affect the way your Web site will look on their computers. Readers depend on you to create a Web site that will be easy to use and look good regardless of their hardware, software, and settings. (386-87)