People often arrive on a web page with a task already in mind. The original article drew on Jakob Nielsen's observations to explain why they might scan for useful elements instead of reading every sentence from the beginning.
Write for the first scan
A quick visual pass helps readers decide where to look more closely. Headings, links and a few well-chosen points of emphasis can show how a page is organised before the visitor commits to the whole text.
The article recommended descriptive section titles, bulleted or numbered lists where appropriate, and restrained use of bold text or other emphasis. If everything competes for attention, the important items become harder to distinguish.
Give the content room to work
The author criticised exaggerated advertising, especially material made to resemble objective information. It also discussed how experienced users learned to ignore banners and close popups that interrupted the task they were trying to complete.
The lesson is about attention: an interruption can make it harder to find the content that brought someone to the site. A page should let the reader understand what is part of the article and what is a separate promotion.
Use short, direct paragraphs
The original text suggested reducing the amount of prose normally used in a printed publication. Its numerical recommendation was an editing heuristic, not a requirement to remove useful detail from every article.
A paragraph of a few direct sentences is easier to scan when it develops one main point. More technical explanations can still be substantial if the structure helps readers choose the part relevant to them.
Divide a long subject meaningfully
The article proposed breaking long material into named sections and, where useful, separate pages linked from an index. A visible contents list lets a visitor enter at the question they need answered.
Splitting a page merely to create more clicks does not serve the same purpose. The divisions should correspond to actual steps, subjects or decisions.
Make the next step clear
Useful links should describe where they go. A reader finishing a setup explanation may need a connection guide, while someone troubleshooting should be able to return to the relevant checklist without searching the whole site again.
That is the approach used by the English eMule guide library: clear subjects, related steps and a search for specific problems.
English edition of the original article by Marcelo, edited for clarity.