Tip: writing text for web audiences

When you write online, make your paragraphs shorter than you would for a print publication. You will see that the online editions of major newspapers use short paragraphs.

Here's an example from the Washington Post.

Because of the optics of reading print on computer monitors, people generally find it more difficult and tiring to read onscreen. Visual markers such as paragraph breaks help readers to scan the text. So keep your paragraphs short.

See also my related post, "How do users read online?" and "Writing for the Web," by usability guru Jakob Neilsen.