Why are websites often delivered without text?

A festive moment, the website is ready! Or so you thought… As soon as you log in, you see Latin texts everywhere. If only it were Latin, then there would still be something real. Lorem Ipsum [wikipedia] texts are pseudo-Latin and absolutely meaningless. Why do we often see websites delivered like this? Because writing catchy and distinctive texts is not that easy. Especially not for more technically and graphically oriented website builders.

This is actually quite strange, that the label “finished” is given to something that is not finished at all. In fact, we actually know that texts are more important than the design. Because without text there is no message, but without design a message can still be conveyed well. Just think about reading a book, we don’t need images to understand the message. Or take a look at this beautiful example of super clean, text-based websites with typography as the only design element: http://www.montylounge.com/ We find this website surprisingly pleasant to view. You?

Writing website text: a task for experts

Many website builders are not writers or positioning experts. Just like a contractor is not a gardener. So always think carefully – when you are exploring a new website – that it’s not just about design, findability, and functionality. Maybe it’s even better to start with the text, concretely in the form of the story you want to convey. In practice, we see that this story often already gives a first impulse for the design and functionality. And this ensures that the design and functionality support the story, not the other way around!

Merkelijkheid delivers websites with the right texts included, want to know more, then get in touch.

This piece is part of our In Practice series about writing website text. We publish a new piece weekly on this topic, next week: Why is it difficult to write texts for your own website?