Writing web content

Design good content by understanding its purpose and organizing it thoughtfully. Use this guide to write clear and accessible web content.

On this page

• Understand the purpose of the content
• Organize content clearly
• Write for accessibility
• Use plain language

Relevant content not found on this page

• Cultural safety and Indigenous Gender-Based Analysis

Understand the purpose of the content

It’s important to understand who you’re writing for and why. This will help you decide what to include and what should be left out. Consider:

• Who's the audience?
• Why do they need this content?
• What tasks are they trying to complete?
• How are you answering those needs?
• Have you done an inventory and audit to see if those needs are met in other content?

Focus the content on the purpose of the page:

• Each page should have one clear purpose
• Only include information that helps people achieve their goal or find what they need
• Remove anything that doesn’t support that purpose

Organize content clearly

Start with the most important information, such as the purpose of the page. Put key actions and decisions at the top.

Break content into short sections. Each section should focus on one topic. Use clear headings so people can scan for the sections they need.

Use formatting to make content easier to read. For example:

• Descriptive headings to organize content
• Lists and examples to break up long content
• Tables for data
• Callout boxes to highlight important information
• Accordions for audience-specific content

Keep paragraphs to one topic

Simple paragraphs help readers understand the topic. Aim for 5 sentences or fewer per paragraph. If you're introducing a new topic, start a new paragraph.

Write for accessibility

How you write can create or reduce barriers for people trying to use the content. No matter who your audience is, accessibility must be part of your process.

Give instructions in the order people need to follow them and write in a way that is easy to follow the first time. Use:

• Plain language
• Clear headings in the correct order
• Unique and descriptive page titles
• Descriptive link text
• Inclusive and respectful language
• Colour contrast with a high enough contrast ratio
• Accurate captions and transcripts for audiovisual content such as videos
• Alternative text on all graphics or images

Use plain language

Our content needs to read in a way that most people can understand it. Using plain language helps everyone, even specialist and technical audiences. When language is overly complex, it can seem like we’re intentionally hiding information by making it difficult to understand.

Review your work using the Plain Language Checklist.

Check the reading level

Government information should be accessible to as many people as possible. Aim for a Grade 8 reading level or lower. This helps make content easier for people to read no matter what their literacy level is or how well they know the topic.

Various readability checkers are available to help you write in plain language. Microsoft Word has a built-in readability checker and grammar tools. You can also test the reading level using tools such as the HemingwayApp online tool (external link). There is a downloadable version available for sensitive content.

Write short sentences and cut unneeded words

Short sentences make it easier to read and ­­remember important information. Aim for fewer than 20 words per sentence. To do this, break information into single-subject sentences and remove words that do not add meaning.

Adjectives

Cut any adjectives that do not improve a reader's understanding. Adjectives add description to nouns such as people, places and things. Sometimes they’re necessary for context such as:

• Please complete the required information

In this case, ‘required’ is an adjective that tells us what we must do.

Adverbs

Cut any adverbs that do not improve a reader's understanding. Adverbs add description to verbs. Sometimes they’re necessary for context such as:

• The project finished early

In this case, ‘early’ is an adverb that tells us the project is complete.

Remove filler words

Remove filler words to shorten sentences. For example:

• And also → And
• Skills and abilities → Skills
• Planning for the future → Planning
• To be able to → To
• Surveys are used to assess → Surveys assess
• All of the required information → The required information
• To make updates → To update

Write to your audience's needs

Learn who your audience is and what they need, then write for them.

Be consistent

Use the same word(s) to describe the same thing on related pages.

Avoid complex words and policy language

If you need to use complex or technical words, explain them or provide examples. If you’re using many complex terms, you may want to consider creating a glossary.

Where possible, limit policy language.

Choose everyday words

Use common words where you can, for example: