On writing for the web

In “Accessibility In Suit And Tie” Bruce Lawson talks about how accessibility and corporate organizations don’t always go hand in hand. One thing that really caught my attention after reading the article was “Educate your content providers”.

A website is all about content, content that not only targets your audience but also fits your website. More important: the content needs to be written for the web. By “written for the web” I mean: readable, scan-able – the right content on the right place. Not just to copy-paste your latest (offline) brochure.

E.g: When a visitor is on the “products” page: there needs to be info about your products. It’s that simple.

While we often blame the customer for delivering poor content (to many or few content) we should often blame ourselves first.

If they need to deliver content for a website, don’t let your clients stuff all of their content into a word file. Word is a tool for writing offline content. We, as web professionals, may know how text will appear online, how it will fit the design. But for clients that’s much more difficult. Besides the lay-out aspect, a well written text can some how be much more difficult to read, less interesting, when you read it online.

On the internet, people don’t have the time to read a full page about your company, or why you to this or that. Make it snappy, cut the crap and say where you stand for as a company.

Let your clients create their content online and directly place the content into the web site’s wireframe so they can experience the content they crafted. This way your clients already get a first impression on how it all comes together. Yes I know, a lot of people are familiar with word. But these days there are enough pretty straightforward WYSIWYG editors.

When creating content for an online experience, try to use tools, or setup an environment that supports writing for the web. Word, or any other similar “offline” text editor, are in my opinion not the right tools.

Comments are closed.

Zeker lezen