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Web Word Wizardry: A Guide to Writing for the Web and Intranet Rachel McAlpine. 2001. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. [ISBN 1-58008223-8. 264 pages, including index. $11.95 USD (softcover).]
Writing for the Web is like getting dressed to go to church. It's something you want to think about before you do it. Good Web writers try to create mental pictures of the people who are their audience. They make lists of things their audience may want from the site. Then they figure out how to give those people what they want with a minimum of clicks and verbiage. And that's just the beginning.
Anyone who follows the literature about the Web knows that any number of books are aimed at Web designers, Web marketers, Web usability experts, and Web everything else. Rachel McAlpine has written a book for writers and editors. Her book stresses the importance of good writers (writers who know how to think about the Internet) in the process of developing a Web site. It's a book to help writers think. It should be a very useful book for any writer, beginner or veteran, who is going through the thought process.
The book starts slowly if not predictably. The first several chapters constitute a pep talk for writers and remind writers of their importance to a Web site...