February 12, 2009 at 22:44Pyramid rule
Your new site has a modern, up-to-date design. Bulletproof layout. Crystal-clear code that can easily hold 50,000 unique ones. It remains only to write clear and concise texts. This rule will help you. Despite the fact that it is simple, it is very effective.
Steve Krug and Jacob Nielsen teach us: if the user quickly did not understand whether he needed information, he would leave. The text will be read very fluently, literally one or two sentences.
How to write text for the site? What to put forward, and what to save for later? When I first asked this question, my father, a former TASS journalist, spoke about the rule of the pyramid. It, at one time, was taught by colleagues from the BBC (BBC, not ve-es, if that).
Rule itself
At the beginning of the article, put the shortest basic information about where and when. It should be stated as briefly and clearly as possible.
The farther to the end of the text, the information becomes more detailed, more descriptive. If there are subjective opinions - they also need to be left for later.
So, when moving from the beginning to the end of the text, the nature of the information changes:
- from objective to subjective,
- from short to detailed,
- from clear to diverse.
Example # 1 of the correct text
In the nightclub "HabraHabraHabr" January 25, 2009 the party "16 bit" was held. The main guest of the party: DJ Bit2Bit.
The party was dedicated to exceeding the threshold of 10,000 visitors per day on the country's leading collective blog. Wishing to get into the club was much more than he could accommodate.
Residents of the club also performed:
- MC Invite,
- DJ Karma100,
- DJ Eeee.
DJ Eeee began to warm up the audience. Already in childhood - at 12 at night, the audience danced everywhere. A distinguished guest DJ Bit2Bit envied the local atmosphere:
- Guys, if this is just a warm-up, how will they dance in prime time?
And then her favorite MC Invite came out to the public. He congratulated the collective blog abroad, was glad for all those registered, and at the same time wished all those suffering to receive their cherished invite:
“Just do not confuse the invite with me,” MC invited invited me out, “my heart has been given forever, I won’t get anyone!”
All the girls standing nearby understood the hint and began to build invitee eyes.
When DJ Karma100 stood up to the turntables, the fun flared up again. It was as if I got to Kazantip in the middle of winter ...
Correct text example # 2
The U.S. War Department announced the beginning of the development of a completely new type of weapon. If this weapon does appear, it can change the traditional tactics of warfare.
New weapons should be able to protect the zone of the location of troops or some military objects from the penetration of various shells. Space at a certain radius is constantly scanned by laser beams. Powerful computers instantly receive information about any moving objects, recognize their type, calculate the trajectory of movement and decide on the method of neutralization.
The Pentagon did not disclose any further information. It is not known how much power a computer needs, where research is being conducted, at what stage development is currently underway, what methods of neutralization are possible, how much money has been allocated for financing. However, the very fact of the start of development already indicates that the United States is actively mastering the latest technologies in the military field.
Russian scientists reacted skeptically to these statements. Most experts do not believe in the prospect of this weapon, and there are reasons for this ...
Example # 1 of incorrect text (everything written here is untruth and a joke)
Glitter rhinestones, sparkle in the eyes. Glamorous girls and positive atmosphere. Light and sound of the highest quality. All this is a wonderful party that brought together the best minds. Yes, you didn’t disobey, indeed, the best minds danced that evening, danced for a long time, danced so beautifully as the pampered children of the oligarchs did not dance.
What was it? - you ask? I will answer - it was wonderful and amazing. This will never happen again, never ...
Example # 2 of incorrect text (everything written here is untruth and a joke)
The American war machine knows nothing of the measure. While a severe crisis is raging in the world, and US workers urgently need financial assistance, the Pentagon has come up with another way to spend taxpayers' money on another scam.
Barack Obama believes that the US military obeys him? How wrong he is! It was the military forces that subjugated him to themselves long ago ...
Historicism pyramid rules
As I already wrote, my father worked at TASS, a telegraph agency. Information came from the teletype in a long tape. An automated typewriter (there was no such thing as a “printer” then) was constantly publishing new articles. The person on duty at the teletype had to quickly read everything out and decide:
- what to send urgently to the press, as the most important news,
- what to place in the sections "Sports", "Economics", "Mistress for a note" or others
- what to ignore.
Naturally, the attendant got tired, and could miss the necessary information. The rule of the pyramid was invented specifically so that those on duty on teletypes could quickly navigate what kind of text they were offered. The conditions were as follows:
- The first paragraph consists of two sentences, a maximum of three, very short, which would immediately give an idea of what, where, when, and in what category it belongs.
- The second paragraph explains the first, it gives the main details of the article.
- Further, in more detail, more subjectively.
Correct or inverted pyramid?
A couple of times I heard different versions of how the "pyramid" is oriented in space.
One version is that the pyramid is upside down, it is on the cutting edge: at the top (the widest part) the most important information, the lower the more the less important things are published there.
The second time: the pyramid is normal, expanding to the base. At the top, everything is very short and concise, at the bottom everything is more detailed.
Both versions have a right to exist. The main thing: from beginning to end, the nature of the text is changing.
Pyramid Rule and Search Engine Optimization
Most experts agree that today
For articles compiled according to the rule of the pyramid, it is easier to determine the general subject of the site. That is, this leads to an increase in the quality of the content.
Pyramid Rule and Philology
Dovlatov wrote about what Brodsky taught him (a short quote):
“If you want the text to sound convincing, use more verbs and nouns. If you want it to sound illusory, use adjectives, participles, diminutive words. ”
According to the rule of the pyramid, the beginning should consist of only nouns and verbs. When the user views your page among many, the impression of the first paragraphs he will have as a convincing and effective text. You get the edge.
Jacob Nielsen, also for the inverted pyramid
TimTowdy provided a link to an article by Jacob Nielsen about using the inverted pyramid rule. There is also an explanation of this rule, and why Jacob himself does not use it. The article was written 13 years ago.
Article Rights
In this article, I set out my vision for the rule of writing texts for sites. It differs from the inverted pyramid rule adopted in journalism. Not much, but different. When republishing an article, please link to my personal page .