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

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

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

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

17. 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

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

19. 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.

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

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

23. 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.

24. 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

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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

32. 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/

33. 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/