c. What is plain language writing for the web and in detail and in your own words, why is it important? (4 Marks)
Plain Language or Plain English for the web is important because it affects everything we do when it comes to producing and crafting content on our website. As we are writing for our audience, this means that we have to organize the content displayed on our site logically, as we make use of plain English in various aspects like in the process of crafting headlines, paragraph breaks, and more. It’s also important because by using it, we are telling a story in a cohesive manner with a set structure that is easy to follow for the readers, because if we didn’t do this they would be jumping around on the page trying to understand where the relevant information is. All the content we create for a site always has to serve a purpose, whether that is for entertainment, to inform readers, or to get them to click or buy something, there always has to be a direction or a clear and concise way of telling them what to do. As we discussed in class, today’s digital reader likes to be told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, and if they come to our page and do not know what to do, they’ll immediately bounce off which can negatively affect our website. This is where plain language or plain English comes, in.
By making use of plain language, we can clearly let the user know where the relevant information is, what we want them to do, and how they can do it because no matter how much people say they don’t like to be told what to do, in reality, they do because its more time-efficient and doesn’t take as long, we called this in class “write for action”. Lastly, it’s also important because it involves making the shortest amount of text or content but still being clear and concise enough for the user to understand what is expected of them (clicking, buying, or being informed) without dumbing it down.