Microsoft® Manual of Style, Fourth Edition

Text for the web

Users are more likely to scan online text than read it. They decide very quickly if content is relevant to them, and searching is their most common behavior. With a glance, users should be able to have a rough idea of what your content is about, so this means that every word counts: users scan titles, headings, and paragraphs to see if they want to continue reading. You need to adapt your writing style to the web to show users that your content is valuable.

Make text scannable

Because users scan web content, if they find something that they like (gleaned from just a few words), they’ll continue reading.

Here are some general guidelines.

• Headings Make headings and subheadings short and make every word count by using keywords. For details ...