General writing rules

Writing in plain language means writing carefully, simply and comprehensibly. The key to a plain text is, among other things, about this:

• Make the text easy to overview
• Select relevant content, explain what needs to be explained and delete what is not needed
• Arrange the text in a logical way and put the most important thing first
• Write informative headlines
• Use understandable words and explain technical terms
• Avoid long and complicated sentences
• Avoid mixing different text formatting, such as bold, normal, italic and non-italic text.
• Try to avoid italic text where possible and use quotation marks instead.

Writing plain language (Institute for Language and Folklore)

Make the text easy to overview

The first impression of a text is crucial. If the text seems easy to understand, there is a greater chance that the user will read it. Put some effort into writing a summary title and introduction that helps the user decide if the text is relevant. Divide the text into short paragraphs with descriptive headings. Intersperse text pieces with descriptive images, summaries and bulleted lists, so the text becomes varied, airy and easy to overview.

Select relevant content and delete what we don't need

Write down the purpose of your text. Any text that contributes to fulfilling that purpose should remain and be explained if necessary. Text that does not contribute should be deleted.

Undvik FAQ's or frequently asked questions

On Vinnova's website, we recommend not using FAQs or frequently asked questions. Instead, we supplement existing pages or create new texts that address the answers to the common questions. We avoid FAQ pages for these reasons:

• They are usually not common questions from the user, but important information that the page manager or the editor comes up with afterwards or does not know where to put.
• They often duplicate content from other sites, increasing the risk of conflicting and confusing information.
• They are often taken out of context and contain information that the user expects to find elsewhere.

Arrange the text well and put the most important thing first

A well-arranged text is the key to a good text. A text should be coherent and easy to follow. It should be divided into several paragraphs with clear headings.

Informative texts put the most important conclusions first and the background material last. In academia, this may feel unusual, as the tradition is to do just the opposite.

Put the most important thing first

On the web, it's more important than anywhere else to put the most important information first - both in every paragraph and in every sentence. Feel free to reinforce the most important information by repeating it in the body, introduction and heading.

We don't just put the most important information first on a page; we also put the most important and distinctive information first in the sentence. Therefore, you should move the most important words to the beginning of the sentence - especially when writing headings, titles, links and bulleted lists.

Summarize rather than provide information about information

In order for the user to understand what a page contains, you should summarize the most important points in the introduction and body text. You should not describe the type of information the page contains.

For example, we do not write: Here you will find more information about how we work with our website.

For one thing, it becomes unclear whether the user is there now or needs to click somewhere to get there. For one thing, it says nothing about how we work with the web.

Instead, we write: On our website, we work strategically and agilely with content, open data and accessibility.

In the latter example, the visitor gets a better idea of what we actually work with and what they will be able to read more about.

Summarize film and sound in text

When we embed elements that are not text-based, such as a podcast or a movie, we need to summarize the most important information in text. There must be a title and a description of the content so that the user can understand what the film or podcast is about or reaches without having to listen or watch the clip.

Do not write:
"Webcast
Here you will find the webcast from the event"

Write instead:
"Information meeting on innovation-driven challenges - three tips on how to write a good proposal
At our information meeting on Innovation-driven challenges, call managers Anna Andersson told us about how to write a good proposal. The three most important ingredients are to have a good idea, start at least three weeks before and work closely with your partners."

Write informative headlines

Our headlines must be clear, interesting and tell us something about the content of the following text. Create descriptive headings that are approximately 5-10 words, preferably with an active verb and preferably a complete sentence.

Titles like Horizon 2020 or Eureka can confuse or exclude because not everyone knows what it means. At the same time, a concept may be well known within a certain target group, but should then be supplemented with an explanatory text. For example, write rather EU funding through Horizon 2020 or Eureka enables European cooperation for industry.

Read more about how to write clear headings and introductions

Use understandable words

We use concepts that can be understood even by the uninitiated, especially in headlines and puff texts.

We also avoid long words as much as we can. Long, compound words are often self-composed and therefore can be difficult for the uninitiated to understand, even if you think the word gives an accurate description. Also, long words can be unhappily clipped when displayed on small surfaces.

Avoid long complicated sentences

We divide long sentences into several. A good sentence is between 15 and 20 words. Limit yourself to one thought or idea per sentence. Long sentences often contain more thoughts, and then the sentence becomes unclear.

We also avoid long paragraphs. Start a new paragraph more often than you think, preferably already after one or two sentences. It particularly facilitates reading on a mobile phone, but also on a screen.