Writing Spaces Web Writing Style Guide

Reviewed by Joseph Amdahl, Adjunct, Chemeketa Community College on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4

This textbook does a good job of covering the basics of web writing (style) and includes a clear and effective Contents page to show the reader what the book includes. The textbook would benefit from additional content and read a bit thin at about 75 pages. Also, giving more examples of successful online posts would benefit students. The Resources page would be useful to a student. Some excellent links included throughout the text.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content of this book is unbiased, accurate, error-free. The evolving nature of the internet makes this textbook one that would need consistent updates and editions.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Given how quickly the internet evolves, this textbook will need to be consistently updated. However, I found a lot of useful information here, including the difference between sans fonts and non-sans fonts. While reading, I kept trying to understand the intended audience and their needs. For example, the subcategories: "what is a blog?" and "what about Twitter?" -- the relevance of this content is contingent on audience -- would most students already have a grip on this material?

Clarity rating: 5

The authors of this textbook did a marvelous job of writing clear and efficient prose. The book reads very well. They took a seemingly dry subject and infused their language with humor and pizazz(I really enjoyed the Matrix references and conversational writing voice). They also did a good job of explaining why the concepts they were covering were useful to the reader. So not only did they provide quality content, but they did a good of explaining why that content was important. Any reader will be able to connect to the voices of these writers. They understood that the employed jargon might be lifeless on the page and they worked hard to combat that.

Consistency rating: 3

The book starts out strong but by the end -- it fizzles out. There was no conclusion to this textbook. No wrap-up. The textbook just ends on coding and creating a web page. To be honest, I didn't understand if this ending was a choice by the contributors or if they ran out of content? Is this text a work in progress? They do list some resources at the end. Very confusing ending given how careful they were to lead the reader through the majority of their ideas.

Modularity rating: 3

The contributors to this text did a good job of breaking the textbook into manageable sections (two main ones) -- this would make assigning reading for this textbook fairly easy for an instructor. However, chapter titles would add a lot regarding organization and general cohesiveness. Each mini-section bleeds to the next and as an instructor, it would be easier to be able to tell students: "Read chapter five..." for example-

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

I found this textbook to be very reader-friendly. However, having chapter titles would add organization. More of a conclusion would also add a lot. The textbook is divided into two main sections.

Interface rating: 5

This textbook is free of any interface issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I didn't notice any issues with grammar. The writing voice, though there were many contributors, reads as clear and cohesive. The textbook editors did a good job, overall.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This textbook isn't insensitive or offensive in any way. The examples used and the content of the textbook work to give readers more reach through reflective and thoughtful presentation. I liked that the book spoke to various socioeconomic readers. Writers did a good job of blending conversational voice with elevated, more professional, voice to speak and connect to different readers.

The intention behind this textbook is smart -- any instructor teaching a class about ways the student writer approaches web communication would benefit from this text.