Website Style Guide

Sentence and Paragraph Length - Writing for the Web

Updated: 23rd July 2001

Sentence Length

• Write simple sentences.
• Try to aim for target sentences of around 20-25 words long, and certainly do not go over 33-35 words. But, at the same time, don't make every single sentence exactly the same length! Write short sentences, too. Strive for a sensible balance with some interesting variation. That is, try to vary sentence structure, but not at the price of becoming verbose.
• Think about the clauses in the sentence, and do not have too many of them. Steer clear of complex, rambling sentences with four or more clauses.
• Try to link sentences by using linking words (refer to earlier section on linking words).

Paragraph Length

• Most website paragraphs are information 'chunks' numbering between approx. 60-100 words (though some paragraphs may be much shorter than 100 words), so aim for about 3/4 sentences in each paragraph. Certainly do not have paragraphs of more than 100 words. 'Information Chunking' is the term used to describe writing paragraphs for the Web.
• It is best to stick to one topic per paragraph.