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Articles and resources about trends and issues with web content and writing for the web.
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- Why Implementing the Plain Writing Act Will Take Decades
- by Steve Radick. Social Media Strategery, May 23, 2011. "... Unfortunately, getting the government to write in plain language isn't something that can be solved by law or by technology. It's not as simple as creating an app or telling people 'do it because I said so.' Here's why: Change is Hard; No Reward, No Punishment; History Repeats Itself; Too Much Training Before, Not Enough Training After; Legal Hurdles; Good Writing is Still Considered a Nice-to-have..."
Added: 2 June 2011;
Page views: 555
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- The Future of Online Content: An International Perspective
- Webcredible, March 2011. "The Future of Online Content report examines the evolving patterns of content consumption. It looks at how content will be found and consumed (for both devices and methods), how content can be paid for (or not), trends in the delivery of content from providers, and how the content itself will change. It also examines the role of user-centered design in responding to these far-reaching changes..."
Added: 5 May 2011;
Page views: 498
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Simple Tips For Writing An SEO Style Guide
- by Ian Lurie. Search Engine Land, March 3, 2011. Topics include: The Right Words; Linking Standards; Title Standards; Dcoumenting everything
Added: 2 May 2011;
Page views: 607
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Accessibility for web writers, part 5
- by Dey Alexander. 4 Syllables, April 27, 2011. "Not all web users can see or identify colours. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women are colourblind. Older people and those with partial sight may not see colours well either. And blind users who use screen readers to read web content may also miss out on colour information. As a web writer, you need to avoid creating content that relies on colour for meaning. For instance, you should avoid writing things like 'Required fields are in red' or 'error messages are shown in red'..."
Added: 28 April 2011;
Page views: 917
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- 8 Easy Wins for On-page SEO
- by Peter J. Meyers. The Daily SEOmoz Blog, April 19, 2011. "... A quick disclaimer – what's 'easy' for one person or on one platform might not be so easy on another. Sitewide changes (TITLE tags, for example) can be tricky, but they're generally a lot easier than a complete redesign or a switch to a new platform. One area I won't mention in this list is improving your URLs. Although that can be a powerful tactic, I'm seeing too many people who want to make relatively minor changes to URLs for SEO purposes. Sitewide URL changes are risky and often difficult to do correctly – they aren’t worth it to go from 'good' to 'slightly better'. The changes I’m proposing here are generally low-risk..."
Added: 20 April 2011;
Page views: 428
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Plain Language: Improving communication from the federal government to the public
- The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) is a group of federal employees from many different agencies and specialties who support the use of clear communication in government writing. We develop and maintain the content of this site... Originally called the Plain English Network, PLAIN has been meeting informally since the mid 1990s. Our goal is to promote the use of plain language for all government communications. We believe that using plain language will save federal agencies time and money and provide better service to the American public..."
Added: 18 April 2011;
Page views: 622
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Accessibility for web writers, part 4
- by Dey Alexander. 4 Syllables, March 22, 2011. "Do you ever write instructions like these? You must fill in the red form fields; Extra training materials are in the links on the right side of the page; The arrows pointing up take you back to the top of the page. Each relies on readers having certain sensory perceptions. 'Red' relies on colour perception. 'Right' relies on location perception. 'Up' relies on perception of orientation. Sometimes you might also write instructions that rely on shape (click the round button), size (copy the large headings) or sound (the beeping sound means...). Don't assume all users have all sensory perceptions..."
Added: 13 April 2011;
Page views: 784
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Accessibility for web writers, part 3
- by Dey Alexander. 4Syllables, February 28, 2011. "Web writers need to use HTML tags to identify certain types of information and relationships between information. For instance, headings need the appropriate heading tag because font size increases aren’t visible to everyone. Some blind people use software that reads out the headings. This gives them a sense of the document contents and structure—but it only works if heading tags are used..."
Added: 13 April 2011;
Page views: 822
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Information production explodes, consumption stagnates
- By Gerry McGovern. New Thinking, April 11, 2011. "Our capacity to produce information is exploding. Our capacity to consume information however, remains relatively static... Government websites are often document dumps. It's usually not a deliberate attempt to misinform. Rather, it involves an obsession with "freedom of information." And, of course, publishing everything is always easier and politically less troublesome than selecting what to publish...."
Added: 11 April 2011;
Page views: 850
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- The accidental website visitor
- By Gerry McGovern. New Thinking, April 4, 2011. "It's very important that you don't attract the wrong type of person to your website... We manage what we can easily measure. It's easy to measure volume. But just because it's easy to measure doesn't mean it's the right thing to measure. When we manage what's easy to measure, rather than what is right to measure, we're not really managing at all..."
Added: 4 April 2011;
Page views: 739
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- SEO: Why 65 Percent of Top 20 E-Commerce Sites Are Missing the Boat
- by Cathy Halligan. Clickz, March 1, 2011. "Sales originate through traffic. Google is the number one source of traffic, accounting for up to 80 percent of total traffic on e-commerce sites (organic, paid, and shopping). Does Google like your site? And, most importantly, does Google like and deliver traffic to your product page, on which the "add to cart" button is located? We analyzed the top 20 e-commerce sites (Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide 2010) and here's what we found. While most sites do a good job optimizing their pages/URLs, many sites have ignored their user-generated content (UGC), which is unfortunate, because that content is often the most valuable in Google's eyes..."
Added: 4 March 2011;
Page views: 712
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Back to Basics: Creating Quality Content for the Web
- by Jessica Lee, Bruce Clay, Inc., February 15, 2011. "In 2010 and early 2011, Google made several changes to its algorithm targeting spammy or low-quality websites. Specifically, two algorithm changes target sites that don't have the most relevant or quality content for a user's query. In typical Google fashion, we don't have specific details into the search engine's criteria of good content; however, based on what we do know about writing quality content, we can offer tips on how to create it. What is good content? It's a question that comes up frequently and can be hard to define. To start, let's talk about what good content isn't..."
Added: 16 February 2011;
Page views: 384
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Accessibility for web writers, part 2: Text alternatives for images
- by Dey Alexander. Writing for the Web - Useful, usable, accessible. Web content that works, November 29th, 2010. "Whenever you use an image on a web page, you need to provide a text alternative—a text version of the information or function provided by the image—except when the image is purely decorative. Text alternatives are one of the most basic requirements for accessibility, but also one of the most misunderstood. Many websites have poor text alternatives..."
Added: 23 December 2010;
Page views: 872
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Accessibility for web writers, part 1: Introduction
- by Dey Alexander. Writing for the Web - Useful, usable, accessible. Web content that works, September 27th, 2010. "Some web writers may not know how much their work can affect accessibility. That needs to change. This is the introduction to a series of articles on accessibility for web writers. I'll be using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 as the basis of these articles, since they are the standards Australian websites must meet..."
Added: 23 December 2010;
Page views: 933
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- The plain truth about plain-language practices
- New Web page details best practices. Short sentences are one, By Alice Lipowicz. federal Computer Week, December 10, 2010. "... Under the new law, which took effect Oct. 26, agencies must use plain language to communicate with the public on agency Web pages. In a similar effort, Defense Department Executive Secretary Michael Bruhn is urging DOD agencies to forgo acronyms..."
Added: 14 December 2010;
Page views: 479
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
This category last updated: 22 December 2011
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