I look at the sites of technology companies and see ponderous blab that doesn’t get to the point. It wastes people’s time.

Sites full of text that’s a waste of space, text that does not reward a visitor’s time. There’s no regard for the visitor’s time. You’re expected to hunker down and study hard because we’re the best and you must earn your way into being allowed to learn about us. We disdain those who don’t already know all about us. Don’t expect us to help you learn about us!

Their text reminds me of Styrofoam: it takes up space without carrying any weight, and the pieces squeak irritatingly when they rub together. Their text is clouds of abstractions connected by passive “equals-sign” verbs. One blob of words enhances, or enables, or, (a current fave), leverages another blob of words. Hacking through the underbrush with an electro-machete, you eventually get to the core level of what they’re trying to say, and it is: nothing.

“I had to read all this to find out that you’re proud you are so proud of yourself?”

I don’t understand why companies think readability of the text on their site is immaterial. I guess they believe a paragraph of text has a certain meaning that will somehow become imprinted in the visitor’s brain, whether they actually read it word-for-word or not, because the company’s intent is so urgent. A flashbulb burst of information. The only important part is to include the proper keywords so the search bots can find it, see. Once the visitor looks at the paragraph, the info goes in whether he reads it or not.

Somehow.

A picture is worth a thousand words, they tell me, but then they show me a picture with no caption, and I’m supposed to interpolate everything about the photo. Of course those who are already in the know do not need a caption to understand the picture. Heck, everybody knows we’re simply trying to  immanentize the eschaton.

If you want people to read what you’re presenting, give them concrete objects in the text, actual visualizable nouns interacting through active verbs. Show the visitors something happening.

Show them the advantage people will gain. Don’t tell them about your long years in the lab. Don’t tell them you’re the leader. Don’t explain how proud you are to be the leader. Don’t tell them “We’ve done it!”

Tell them what you did in plain simple language, and explain what your innovation will mean to them.