Writing for Online Readers: Tips and Tools for Materials Writers
by Jennifer Murray
March 26, 2026
In this blog post, Jennifer Murray summarises her presentation at the Pre-Conference Event in Edinburgh 2025. Her talk focused on how we can improve our online reading materials, providing useful tips and tools for the attendees.
Are our materials preparing learners for writing in a digital age? In many cases, I’d argue that they are not, or at least not yet. Look no further than the perennial popularity of the ‘for and against’ essay in coursebooks. Even if students are asked to produce a digital text, an email perhaps, the task all too often remains a pen-and-paper task.
These are some pretty big questions. Let’s see if we can get to the bottom of them by the end of this article.
Text in the digital world
Meanwhile, on the internet, our learners are reading (and writing) websites and social media posts, blogs and online articles, eBooks and more. Not only do these online texts differ from their printed counterparts, but online readers are also not the same as print readers. This post looks at how people read online and suggests ways we can make our online materials clearer, more engaging, and more accessible for all readers.
The challenges of reading online
Think for a moment about your own experiences of reading online. It’s not always an easy task, is it? We are often squinting at small screens, straining our eyes. We are probably distracted by having multiple tabs open and find it difficult to concentrate. We read online on the metro, on our way to work or class, we are always in a hurry. Online readers want to find the information they need fast, but at the same time are overloaded with data. Online reading places both physical and psychological demands on readers.
How do online readers read?
Research using eye-tracking, heatmaps, and mouse-tracking studies, like that from the Nielsen Norman Group, tells us that online readers (Nielsen, 2006):
- Scan and skim texts,
- Get impatient quickly,
- Rarely read to the end of a text.
Their analysis shows two patterns that online readers follow:
- F-shaped reading: where readers focus on the first lines and the left margins of texts. Just like a capital F.
- Layer-cake reading: when readers jump between headings, images, and captions. Think Victoria sponge with the focus on the jam, not the cake.
What is clear is that online readers don’t start at the beginning of a text and reach the end, taking in every word as they go. Knowing how people read online, our writing must adapt to fit.
Reformatting our content for online readers
What we need to do first is ‘webify’ our content. By this I mean format our materials to reflect online reading patterns. Start by front-loading our texts. As readers skim, scan and rarely read to the end, we can structure our texts in what journalists call an inverted pyramid. Order your paragraphs like this:
- Need to know
- Nice to know
- Extra detail
Placing your key message first increases the chances of your reader learning something, even if they don’t read the full text.
Varying the format of your text can help a reader to read more too. Using summaries and lists, especially in the later sections, makes your content more digestible, keeping a reader’s attention.
Ensuring your content is easy to scan will help readers as well:
- Break up walls of text with headings and subheadings.
- Keep paragraphs short and sweet, ideally no more than five lines for mobile phone readers.
- Use visual hierarchy too. There’s no need for fancy design, but changing font sizes and colours, using bolding and numbering, and including white space make your texts more accessible.
Lists and bullet points are your friends
Lists work particularly well for items such as benefits, steps, features, and summaries. Use them to replace dense paragraphs. Bear in mind that effective lists:
- Include a maximum of five to seven main points.
- Use the same grammar (e.g., all starting with verbs).
- Are all a similar length (as much as possible).
- Contain one idea per bullet (no more than this).
- Place the most important items first and last.
Clear sentences say more
As language experts, we know that good sentences are ones you read once. Each sentence contains one main idea only. Sentences generally kick off with a subject and a verb. Clear sentences are short too, under 25 words.
Some of the higher-level sentence grammar we focus on in language classes can make reading a challenge. In particular, the passive voice and inversions can cause a reader to grind to a halt. See The Reader’s Brain by Yellowlees Douglas (2015) for further discussion.
Plain English and word choice
George Orwell, in his essay, Politics and the English Language, famously said, ‘‘Never use a long word where a short one will do’’ (Ostrom & Haltom, 2018, p. 98). He wasn’t thinking of online readers of course but could have been. Keeps your English plain and use:
- Verbs over abstract nouns (help vs assistance)
- Words rather than phrases (now vs. at the present time)
- Metaphors when they help (size of a football pitch)
- Idioms and jargon if you know they will be understood.
Two book recommendations here: Stephen King (2000), On Writing and Josh Bernoff (2016), Writing Without BS.
Links and calls to action
Hyperlinks and calls to action (CTAs) are all over the internet. But they are often in need of repair. What do “click here” or “read more” mean to a reader? Especially a reader with visual impairment using a screen reader? Not a lot. Good links inform a reader of what will happen if they choose to click on a link: “Download free lesson plan” or “Browse available courses”.
In a similar way, button text works best as a verb + noun combination: “Make my payment” or “Book a call”. Button text completes the reader’s sentence: I would like to… . Clarity leads to clicks, whereas confusion will make a reader bounce away from a webpage.
Accessibility and visual content
A full discussion of accessibility is beyond the scope of this blog, but let’s quickly consider images and video. As we saw above, online readers read image captions, so it makes sense to include an informative sentence at each image, and a reference to copyright if needed (Princeton University, n.d.).
Alt Text (alternative text) is important for readers using screen readers or when connectivity is poor. In both cases, images might not be properly displayed, and the Alt Text will provide a replacement description (Harvard University, n.d.). Avoid the type of language we might hear in a lower-level oral exam:
In this image, I can see a teacher writing on the board.
Instead, focus on:
- who/what
- action
- context
And include useful descriptions like:
Maths teacher, Ms Brown, explains algebra at the board to Grade 6 learners. The students volunteer to give their answers.
Finally, if you make use of video content, be sure to upload legible subtitles. Remember those online readers on the metro? They may be reading without audio.
AI tools or not?
We can’t talk about writing in the digital age without talking about Generative AI. Without delving into the ethics or the environmental impact of these tools, again that’s a whole other blog post, I’ll share my thoughts.
AI tools are here to stay, and there are thousands of them out there on the internet. I use different tools (some are listed below) as my writing assistants to help with:
- creating editorial briefs
- generating ideas
- simplifying language
- summarising notes
- writing draft Alt Text
I don’t use AI to write for me. I haven’t found that the results match what I want to say. And I really believe that, even online, readers are looking for the human touch, the emotions and experiences we bring to writing. The machines can’t (yet) do this.
To sum up
In this blog, we’ve looked at the challenges of reading online and some practical ways to make our digital content easier to read. Whether you apply these ideas to your own online writing or include them in teaching and learning materials, small changes can make online reading clearer, more accessible, and more engaging for all readers.
References
Bernoff, J. (2016). Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean. Harper Business
Douglas, Y. (2015). The Reader’s Brain: How Neuroscience Can Make You a Better Writer. Cambridge University Press
Ostrom, H., & Haltom, W. (2018). Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” in the Age of Pseudocracy. Routledge.
Harvard University (no date) Describe content in images. Available at: https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/describe-content-images (Accessed: 18 March 2026).
King, S. (2000). On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Charles Scribner’s Sons
Nielsen, J. (2006). F-shaped pattern for reading web content. Nielsen Norman Group. Available at: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content-discovered/ (Accessed: 18 March 2026).
Princeton University (no date). Accessibility checklist. Available at: https://digital.accessibility.princeton.edu/checklist (Accessed: 18 March 2026).
Resources & AI Tools
Ahrefs | Free AI Image Alt Text Generator
https://ahrefs.com/writing-tools/img-alt-text-generator
TextBuddy | AI Rewriter & Plain English Editor
TLDR This | Summarize any text in a click
Writer Buddy | Title Generator
Jennifer Murray brings decades of ELT expertise as a teacher, editor and publisher to her current role as a copywriter and copy coach. At Best Words Copywriting, she helps ELT professionals and language teaching businesses with their online words, offering practical support with writing copy, web content and marketing materials.