Comments on: Design for Long-Form Web Writing

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:52:46 +0000

I, too, struggle with this problem. When trying to integrate our magazine with web, my temptation is to suggest to our magazine editors to put a full-length feature on the web and a highly edited version with references to the web version throughout. It seems to me in an era of tight budgets and environmental considerations, longer stories on the web would be logical, except for that gnawing voice that says people won’t read long form on the web. However, I think this notion is experiencing challenge with the demise of so many newspapers and magazines (and making me more comfortable in defending the position to nay-sayers). Won’t audiences adjust and accept long form on the web as a natural outcome of change (because where else will they find it)?

George’s comment in the previous post brings up an equally important issue to presentation, also addressed in Christian Science Monitor quote. With infinite space, what will be the journalistic standard for boiling information to its core?

By: George Thompson

George Thompson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:31:05 +0000

Long-form web writing? That’s an oxymoron — no? Actually, I think it the magazine style of writing (and presentation) is important. And it’s sorely missing from the web, especially in it’s finest form (as Robert points out). I also tend to read longish on the web, if it’s well written and takes advantage of the medium.

But magazine style doesn’t necessarily imply magazine length, as we’ve come know it in print. In print, the definition of long is finite — space is limited. On the web, long is infinite. So, what do we mean by long on the web?

By: Billy

Billy — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:26:20 +0000

Yes, couldn’t agree more, long form is really important on the web (although I don’t think I’ve yet come up with a satisfactory format for it)

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:29:43 +0000

As someone who occasionally finds himself on Salon, Slate, or BBC Magazine, reading for half an hour about something fascinating, I do believe there is room for the long form on the web.

Unfortunately, not every example of it is up to those standards. (And I have to admit, I only read Salon & Slate quite rarely – when I stumble across them, rather than being a regular visitor)

I suspect my threshold for reading a long piece on the web is higher: It needs to be better than its paper equivalent for me to engage with it. But then, boy, do I engage: I follow links, look up things on Google and Wikipedia, and can easily spend two or three hours following various side tracks and stories across the web, angling from one bit of fascination to the next. I remember spending hours (a few years ago) reading about the things that happened to Evita’s corpse, then embalming, then Lenin, then Peron and Argentinian politics, with various little diversions along the way.(Wikipedia, it has to be said, is magnificent for this sort of thing)

We’re now having feature articles (usually 500-2000 words) on our student portal – they are, as yet, a far cry from what I envision them to be in future. We are slowly finding our feet with them, but it’s a learning process. I hope they are getting better, over time. But there is only so much time we can dedicate to sourcing and writing them, amongst many other more pressing tasks…