Can Print Editors Do Digital?

Editors have always loved to cut. It's our favourite pastime. Sure, we fiddle around with the author's words, rewriting here and there, but when it's time to get the text on the page, we do what we love to do. Cut, cut, cut.

Luckily, this trait turns out to be perfect for the web. Because while non-fiction print editing requires some pretty nifty cutting to fit, the web demands a ruthless amount of cutting. Everything has to be immediately obvious, both typographically and semantically. Readers have to be able to spot what they want on the page immediately, seeing and identifying what they want within milliseconds. If you make them pause to think, they're gone.


Readers Vs Users
Why the impatience? It seems that the big difference between print and web readers is that web readers aren't really 'readers' at all. They're users. This is the absolutely key thing to keep in mind. They don't want to browse around, losing themselves for a few minutes or hours in some delightful other world like print readers do. They want answers, fast. They've usually got a problem to solve, whether they're looking to buy something or get information. And they've got a tool available that works in a flash – we're all Googlers now – so if they visit your site and don't immediately see what they're looking for, you're history.

Managing Content
You may have the most comprehensive, expert and inspiring content in the world – but if the content hasn't been managed correctly (book editors: think spreads, chapters and indexing), the website (think a multi-layered, linked network of pages) won't get the readership/traffic it deserves.

This obsession with speed holds good even for social networking sites. Users don't want to spend time navigating to the right place. They want to get there, super fast, and get chatting. They want you, and your website, to effectively get out of the way – even while you're providing the service.

If book/magazine/news editing is low-key, web editing has to be invisible. The structure has to be so transparent as to literally disappear, leaving only what the user is actively looking for. This holds good for every page, every heading, every navigation tool. This is text pared to the limit.

Cutting Out The Questions
But all this is basically clarity and cutting – everyday meat to traditional editors. So far, so good. Another key task is to eliminate any questions, which can damage the speed of access. This is essentially a new version of 'the idiot test' that editors always run in their heads – i.e. is there anything in the text that makes me hesitate, re-read, or think 'huh?' Is there a pausing point? If so, it has to be changed, whether you're working in print or online. The big difference is the amount of time the reader/user will allow you to clarify what you mean. A print reader is in a musing frame of mind, and is relatively forgiving. But if a web user has to wonder "where am I?", "what should I click on first?", "where did they put…" or "have they got a…?", in all likelihood they'll give you the benefit of – at most – two of these questions, before they give up and dive off to a different site. And on the web a "question" can arise from virtually any word on the page – even the navigational headings. If the company wants to flag up a tab for 'Jobs', don't call it 'Employment Opportunities' or 'Positions Vacant'. Don't make them think, or they're gone.

So Can Editors Do Digital?
Scary? Slightly. Just think of it as a challenge. But can print editors do digital? Hell yes. They're the masters of content structure and clarity. They've long understood what readers want; they just need to adjust their sense of reader slightly (to that fast, intolerant user) and they're still streets ahead of anyone else handling web content.

So why aren't more print editors working on digital products? Perhaps because most websites belong to companies, who haven't necessarily grasped the fact that they're publishing. That web designers aren't interested in words, and that staff members aren't writers. Some companies haven't yet realised that their websites are not just shop windows, but corporate messaging, and a major point of interaction with their customers. That every web page says something about the company – its values, its care (of customers, products, and own image) and its attention to detail. Every website has a voice – and that voice needs to be right. The words on the page are speaking to the user, and they have to reflect the right character for the company. A large corporate requires a wholly different set of language and tone to a youth-focused independent. Who's going to bring in that consistency of message, if not an editor? Certainly not a web designer, or even the marketing department of a company.

With more and more websites fighting to get to the top of the search engines, it's not just about keywords and tags any more; and even frantic work on the social networking sites won't save a carelessly-worded website. Speaking naturally in the right way to a particular audience about what they want to hear is now the most effective way to automatically pare down the words for both the core audience and the google spiders.

So if there are any print editors out there wondering whether to take the leap into digital – go for it. Your skills have never been more sorely needed.