Consistency’s important when it comes to writing for the web. After all, you want your readers to know what you’re talking about. And that means not confusing them by giving one thing several different names.

This was the central premise of a conversation I had last week. And it was absolutely right – to a point. You don’t want to confuse the reader. So if something has a name, you stick to it.

But my view is that there’s a balance to be struck here. When you write for the web, you tend to write in a conversational style. You write like you speak.

Nobody uses the same words over and over again in conversation. It’s boring, and it sounds silly – like talking in a monotone. So any ‘conversational’ copy with the same lack of variety just isn’t going to sound right.

If you truly want to engage the reader, your copy needs to stand up and grab their attention. To do that, variety is vital; without it, you’ll sound stilted and contrived. Almost like a machine wrote the text for you. And that’s not going to impress anyone.

Around 5pm it usually feels like it’s time for a rest. Today wasn’t much of an exception.

I was trying to get to the Microsoft website and for some reason I typed www.google.co.uk/microsoft into my browser. I was surprised by what I saw.

I’ve hardly looked at it, but it appears to return search results relevant to Microsoft. There’s a similar page for www.google.co.uk/linux. www.google.co.uk/mac gives you a “Search Mac Sites” box as well as some handy Google downloads for Apple.

Google: are you having a bit of fun or providing a useful service? I reckon it’s a bit of both.

The number 17’s one of the major bus routes in Reading, and actually the service isn’t usually too bad. The way the timetables are presented is pretty good as well: instead of posting the full timetable everywhere, each bus stop has an individual printout listing only the times buses arrive there.

Makes sense really; showing just the relevant information makes it easier to find what you’re looking for.

But there’s still room for improvement. I noticed this at a bus stop this evening. Two buses are listed at 2000 hours. One has NF by it, one F.

No, it’s not a reference to the National Front. The NF stands for “not Fridays”. The F means “Fridays only”. The difference between the two? There isn’t one. They leave at the same time and run to the same destination, with the same interim stops.

Extra lines, extra numbers – and there’s no reason for them. It just creates uncertainty and confusion. Sure, it’s a minor thing, but I bet it’s confused someone, at some point. And it would be easy to rectify. So why haven’t they?

It’s the same with websites. Is everything there for a reason? Because if it’s not, it’s just noise.