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Take some tips from technical writing that will make your opinions clear and persuasive in the brand new reading environment of the web.

Print media puts the reader in the passenger's seat. What if you do not want a character to die? Imagine if you don't just like the direction the story has had? Traditional reading is linear--you start at chapter one and you also go to the end, without detours in between.

Instruction manuals will always be different. Who reads instruction manuals from starting to end? Instead you dip involved with it, try something, and when that doesn't seem to work, flip a few pages backward or forward and try again.

Now the internet has become a huge manual where the reader can move around at will--technology has stolen authorial control. You should expect your readers to jump around. To reach your goals, anything you write for the web has to follow exactly the same three rules that technical writers use:

Write in Chunks

Readers choose. Understand that your audience isn't expecting a story--they have specific goals. write for us technology have to be self-contained and clearly marked to help them find what they're looking for and move ahead. Respect your reader's time--don't make sure they are eat the sundae when all they want is the cherry.

Follow a Structure

You can structure your articles by category, rank, location--but there must be a structure. By organizing your information you're giving your reader a tool that lets them find what they're looking for and skip what they don't need. If you can't find a structure that works, you have to define your points more clearly.

Connect it Together

You can't force your reader to follow the path you've set for them, nevertheless, you can give them access to information that supports your message. You shouldn't be afraid to link, both to resources outside your document and to pages inside it. Your role would be to help them achieve their goals; point them towards resources that help them do this.

Like technical writing, the internet is about helping people find information. Adopt some of the principals of technical writing in your own work to make it get results.