1 / 33

Delivering Usable Content: How to Write (and Edit) for the Web

Delivering Usable Content: How to Write (and Edit) for the Web. Amy Lawless, ORISE. Delivering Usable Content. Anyone who puts content on a site is performing the function of Web editor. The decisions you make—or don’t make—when you put content on a site affect its usability.

grover
Télécharger la présentation

Delivering Usable Content: How to Write (and Edit) for the Web

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Delivering Usable Content: How to Write (and Edit) for the Web Amy Lawless, ORISE

  2. Delivering Usable Content • Anyone who puts content on a site is performing the function of Web editor. • The decisions you make—or don’t make—when you put content on a site affect its usability. • Print writing and editing differ from Web writing and editing.

  3. Audience Analysis • Audience analysis is extremely important. • Balance the needs of the organization with the needs of the user. • Avoid self-promotion. • Avoid the desire to teach your audience how they should think.

  4. Methods of Audience Analysis • Analysis by classification: Making inferences from demographic data. • Example: Audience profiles. • Pros: Cheap & easy. Makes us think about needs of different groups. • Cons: Can lead to stereotyping and faulty inferences.

  5. Methods of Audience Analysis • Analysis from user feedback: Gathering feedback from users prior to development. • Example: Surveys, focus groups. • Redesign: Web statistics, search logs. • Pros: Gives more accurate view of audience. • Cons: $$, time.

  6. Methods of Audience Analysis • Ideal method: • Combination of classification and user feedback up front. • Conduct user testing of prototype. • Pros: Comprehensive approach. • Cons: $$, time.

  7. Onscreen Reading • Onscreen reading is slower than print reading. • Web users scan information, while print readers read linearly. • Web users are often in a hurry, have shorter attention span, and have a particular question in mind.

  8. Concise Writing for the Screen • Reduce wordiness. • “Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left” (Krug, Don’t Make Me Think). • Don’t delete information, delete words.

  9. Concise Writing for the Screen • Tips for making your writing concise: • Make sentences active. • X“Selected programs will be offered by ORISE…” • ► “ORISE will offer selected programs…” • Reduce nominalizations. • X “The committee made a decision to…” • ► “The committee decided to…” • Combine sentences. • X “The committee made a decision regarding program offerings. Selected programs will be offered by ORISE beginning in 2003. • ► “The committee decided to offer selected programs in 2003.”

  10. Concise Writing for the Screen • Reduce marketing language (“fluff”), jargon, and in-house language. • Example: Converting a brochure from print to online. • “Successful labeling systems mirror the thinking and language of a site’s users, not its owners” (Rosenfeld, Information Architecture for the WWW) • Examples: Link titles, page titles, navigation, levels of headings. • Use hyperlinks for more in-depth information.

  11. Scannable Content • Use short paragraphs (“chunking”). • Google example: https://www.google.com/adsense/policies

  12. Scannable Content • Use levels of headings. • Creates hierarchy of information. • Gives users an overview of information.

  13. Scannable Content • Use bullets. • Google example: http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html • Use white space for balance.

  14. Jakob Nielsen Study: Web Writing • Guidelines from study: • Do not use promotional, marketing writing style. • Cut text to create a concise document. • Make text scannable. • Use objective language as opposed to exaggerated (marketing) language. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

  15. Types of Content Pages • Home Page • Navigation Page • Destination Page

  16. Types of Content Pages • Home Page • Establish consistent navigation. • Avoid the splash page. • Keep content short and above the fold. • Keep content updated, preferably dynamic.

  17. Types of Content Pages • Navigation Page • Continue consistent global navigation. • Include short descriptions with each content area link. • Use white space between link options.

  18. Types of Content Pages • Destination Page • Follow guidelines for concise writing and scannability. • Some content will need to be long. • What are our options?

  19. When a Page Must Be Long… • Users don’t like to scroll, but they will if encouraged. • Judgment call: Long page vs. dividing page into pages.

  20. When a Page Must Be Long… • Long, scrolling page • Provide content clues up front. • Informative levels of headings, link titles with descriptions. • Provide a summary above the fold to let users decide whether to invest the time. • Example: CNN.com

  21. When a Page Must Be Long… • Dividing pages • Dividing a page is different from dividing a document into topics. • New York Times example. • Create a printer-friendly version. • Consider whether your users will be motivated to click through.

  22. When a Page Must Be Long… • Internal page links for long content. • Pros: • Useful if items are strongly related. • Acts as table of contents with content. • Helps to chunk long content. • Cons: • Users may forget they are linking internally and get lost. • Tip: Don’t link too many words.

  23. When a Page Must Be Long… • Long documents • Break up documents into separate, logical, linked topics. • Provide a table of contents with short descriptions. • Provide a link to a PDF or printer-friendly version of entire document.

  24. Web Style Guides • Solidify your guidelines for Web content in a style guide. • Style guides promote consistency and quality control. • Distribute the guide to all staff who create information for the Web, design Web sites, or post content.

  25. In Summary • Analyze your audience. • Keep text concise, straightforward, and easy to read. • Use the language of the user. • Make your content scannable. • Give readers content clues, let them decide whether to invest time, and give them options to print long pages. • Create and distribute a style guide.

  26. Bibliography Usability • Adaptive Path • http://www.adaptivepath.com/ • The Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability (Nielsen) • http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ • Ask Tog • http://www.asktog.com/ • Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity • By Jakob Nielsen. New Rider’s Publishing 1999 • Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability • By Steve Krug. New Riders Publishing 2000 • The Federal Web Content Managers Toolkit • http://www.firstgov.gov/webcontent • Usability.gov • http://www.usability.gov/ • User Interface Engineering • http://www.uie.com/ • World Wide Web Consortium • http://www.w3.org

  27. Bibliography Writing for the Web • Developing Online Content: The Principles of Writing and Editing for the Web • By Irene Hammerich and Claire Harrison. John Wiley & Sons 2001. • Envisioning Information • By Edward Tufte. Graphics Press 1990. • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information • By Edward Tufte. Graphics Press 1983. • Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative • By Edward Tufte. Graphics Press 1997. • Web Style Guide • By Patrick Lynch and Sarah Hornton. Yale University Press 2002. • http://www.webstyleguide.com/ • Web Word Wizardry: A Guide to Writing for the Web and Intranet • By Rachel McAlpine. Ten Speed Press 2001. • Writing for the Web • By Crawford Kilian. Self-Counsel Press 1999. • Writing for the Web (Jakob Nielsen) • http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/

  28. Bibliography Information Architecture • Argus Center for Information Architecture • http://www.argus-acia.com/ • Boxes and Arrows • http://www.boxesandarrows.com/ • Google Directory on IA • http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Knowledge_Management/Information_Architecture/ • Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web • By Christina Wodke. New Riders 2002. • Information Architecture for the World Wide Web • By Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville. O’Reilly 1998. • Practical Information Architecture: A Hands-on Approach to Structuring Successful Websites • By Eric L. Reiss. Addison-Wesley 2000. • SIGIA-L (IA mailing list) • http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/

More Related