How long should your story be?
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
Reader Skip Savage, commenting on Eight design tips for the Web, makes a beautifully articulated observation regarding site content. He writes . . .
“Great comments here. Such an important topic and whenever it gets discussed you get to see how the various schools of thought are evolving.
“Unfortunately, you always get a few third-hand ideas that have been recycled so often they come across as gospel.
“The one I worry about for designers and clients is the caution on long content.
“ ‘Nobody reads’ is a half-truth, and a whole lie.
“Truth is, if your reader doesn’t care about your topic, no content is short enough. And if they don’t care, you don’t care. Your site is not for them.
“But if they find your topic interesting, then don’t shortchange them with skimpy content. Give them the detail they’re looking for. Be their source.
“For example, this comment is well down a long page of text. You may have skimmed some comments, but here you are.
“So there’s no content that’s too long. There’s only content that’s too boring.”
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