Writing

Turn Usable Content into Winning Content

"Findable. Scannable. Readable. Concise. Layered. We know much these days about how to make Web content usable—thanks to experts such as Robert Horn, Jakob Nielsen, Ginny Redish, and Gerry McGovern. What we don't understand as well, however, is how to make content win users over to take the actions we want them to take or have the perceptions we want them to have. We don’t understand how to make Web content both usable and persuasive. I, by no means, intend to imply that we should sacrifice the usability of content to make it more persuasive. Truly winning content must be both." (Colleen Jones - UXmatters)

Posted on February 14, 2008 | Permalink

Putting the Strunk Back in Strunk and White

"The real secret of E.B. White is listening, incorporating, translating, and finally accepting pundits into our practice. We aren't at war at all. We all want the same thing. We all want more great work in the world." (Christina Wodtke - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted on July 05, 2006 | Permalink

Magic Words: How Language Augments Human Computation

"Public language is a cognition-enhancing tool -- it is a species of external artifact whose current adaptive value is partially constituted by its role in re-shaping the kinds of computational space that our biological brains must negotiate in order to solve certain types of problems, or to carry out certain complex projects. This computational role of language has been somewhat neglected (not un-noticed, but not rigorously pursued either) in recent cognitive science, due perhaps to a (quite proper) fascination with and concentration upon, that other obvious dimension: the role of language as an instrument of interpersonal communication. In this chapter, I try to display the broad shape of the alternative orientation. I discuss the views of some recent (and not-so-recent) authors, who recognize in various ways, the potential role of language and text in transforming, reshaping and simplifying the computational tasks that confront the biological brain. I then pursue this idea through a series of examples involving planning, concept learning, the construction of complex thoughts and the capacity to refelect on our own cognitive profiles." (Andy Clark)

Posted on June 25, 2006 | Permalink

Calling All Designers: Learn to Write!

"It's time we designers stop thinking of ourselves as merely pixel people, and start thinking of ourselves as the creators of experiences. And when it comes to experience on the web, there’s no better way to create it than to write, and write well." (Derek Powazek - A List Apart)

Posted on May 09, 2006 | Permalink

F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content

"Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted on April 18, 2006 | Permalink

Rules for labelling buttons

"The consequence of the two rules may be that you end up with buttons with labels that are longer than a single word. I think that's much better than striving for single words that are either confusing (as they might be in our example) or infuriating (as in the many dialog boxes that inform me that some program has done something truly ghastly to my computer, and then expect me to click 'OK' as if I'm happy about it)." (Caroline Jarrett - Usability News)

Posted on February 01, 2006 | Permalink

Why People Don't Read Online and What to do About It

"It's been proven that two things people will look at on the screen are bullet points and numbered lists. Knowing that, use them. It's called content chunking, and, as you can see from many of our own pieces, it's an effective way to pull the eye." (Michelle Cameron - ACM Ubiquity)

Posted on November 01, 2005 | Permalink

Quality, not quantity: Delivering value from web content

"Maintaining the quality of your content is critical to the long term success of your website. That involves establishing rigorous pre and post publication editorial processes." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on August 21, 2005 | Permalink

The Economist Style Guide

"This guide is based on the style book which is given to all journalists." (The Economist) - courtesy of jesse james garrett

Posted on July 26, 2005 | Permalink

Web editors have a great future

"Web editors are critical to website success. They have a combination of communications, marketing and technology skills. Most of all, they know their readers inside out." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on April 17, 2005 | Permalink

It's the content, stupid: search engine optimization

"In deciding to rank your website, search engines pay a lot of attention to the actual content they find on your webpages." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on April 05, 2005 | Permalink

International Differences: Language

"Labels can also be quite problematic as translation processes often lack the context behind content selections and thereby result in non-standard or confusing terminology for users. As anyone that has sat through a usability test or two can testify, confusing or non-descriptive terms on category labels and calls to action are some of the most common usability problems. (...) The right solution to translation, of course, is cultural experts that can inform correct action and category labels." (Luke Wroblewski - Functioning Form)

Posted on February 15, 2005 | Permalink

How to measure the value of your web content

"The way to make web content more valued is to make it more measured. The more ways you can measure the value your content delivers, the more your career will be valued." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on January 23, 2005 | Permalink

Web content is a hidden asset

"Most people within most organizations don’t value content. In a typical organization, the higher up you go the less appreciation there is. That's all about to change because content is a 'hidden' asset of great value." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on January 16, 2005 | Permalink

Secrets of great web headings and summaries

"Your website success will increase the better you write headings and summaries. People are very impatient, so the heading and summary really needs to be compelling. Here are some key tips for writing better headings and summaries." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on October 31, 2004 | Permalink

Web writing: How to judge a good website from a bad one

"How a website has written its links is an excellent way to judge its quality. Good websites tend to have a rich and intuitive link structure. Good web writers think clearly about how each piece of content links up with the rest of the content on the website." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on September 06, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Emerging Content Requirements for News Products

"The premise in this article is that there are unexplored opportunities for news providers when consideration is given to the full range of variables that impact readability. The fact that typical readers do not take advantage of news content as it is currently packaged and delivered is, in fact, only part of the rationale for this statement." (Howard Williams - ASIS&T Bulletin Aug/Sep 2004)

Posted on August 26, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Plain Language and Information Design

"Nine-tenths of meaning can be gained from scanning a page that has other representational elements besides text - provided they are of course relevant to what's being said. In other words, information design needs to be intelligent and thoughtful." (The Plain Language Association International)

Posted on July 29, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Writing effective link text

"Follow these six guidelines for how to write effective link text and your site visitors will be able to find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently." (Trenton Moss - evolt.org)

Posted on July 28, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

How to get great content from people

"There is a need to connect the person who creates the content with the person who reads it. Content creation must be seen as an important and valuable task within the organization. When a piece of content delivers value, the person who created it should be praised and rewarded." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on June 14, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Be a web editor, not administrator

"There are two roles in web content management that matter: editors and writers. Editors decide what should get published. Writers create the content. Most websites started off with administrators—webmasters—who had lots of responsibility and little authority. Today, we see the emergence of the web editor, a position that will become increasingly important." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on May 30, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Learn how to implement an effective web style guide

"A style guide helps you quickly and cost-effectively publish content that is of a consistent quality. It is particularly important when there are lots of editors and authors involved in the publishing process. A good style guide takes a lot of time and effort to create. Unless its implementation is policed, it will not achieve its objectives." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on May 17, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

The Sad State of Web Content

"Content still is king of the Web and the designers, developers and producers of the Web should be the king's loyal subjects. Trust me, it's in our best interests." (D. Keith Robinson - Asterisk)

Posted on February 27, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

List of articles about writing web content

"High quality web content impresses people and search engines." (Quality Web Content) - courtesy of craig marion

Posted on February 24, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Integrating Reading and Writing of Documents

"Computer users have become accustomed to the writing of documents being regarded as a separate activity from the reading of documents. We believe that this division is unnecessary and limits the effectiveness of virtually every computer user. It is time for a rethink of underlying concepts. A key concept for integrating reading with writing is a general mechanism for annotation. This general mechanism can be combined with hyperlinking to create a single unifying super-concept that provides a base for integrating reading and writing. The paper explains the underlying ideas, and describes the results of a small experiment that supported the viability of the super-concept. We believe that the super-concept might possibly provide the foundations for a revolution in thinking about documents, which would benefit everyone." (P. J. Brown and Heather Brown - Journal of Digital Information)

Posted on February 05, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Words come before looks in web design

"Advertising agencies tend to design awful websites because they are obsessed with getting attention. When people come to your website, you have already got their attention. They want to do something. They want detail. They want facts. The thing they value most is their time. So don’t waste it." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on January 25, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Hot Text: Web Writing that Works

"To help you figure out what will work for you and your audiences when you start tapping out electronic text, we bring together the results of research on usability, readability, reading comprehension, and writing methods." (About HT) - courtesy of elearning

Posted on January 16, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

The dangers of publishing your website in another language

"Publishing your website in another language is like managing a brand new website. It demands people who are expert in writing and editing in that language. The standard of English on the Web, for example, is often poor, even for those whose native language it is. It can be embarrassingly bad for websites publishing English as a foreign language." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on November 09, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Coding the Classroom: Technology and The Practice of Language

"The technology of the Information Age depends on programming languages for functionality. Because programming languages ultimately affect the production of language digitally, programming languages will inevitably demonstrate a lasting effect on the process of writing. Hence it is important to recognize the impact of programming languages on the production of language. It may well be the necessary first step in understanding technologyís reverberating presence in the classroom." (Claudia Herbst - First Monday 8.11)

Posted on November 04, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

The Origins of Writing

"This site was developed as an educational supplement for anthropology students (...)" (Utah State University) - courtesy of reloade

Posted on September 24, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

For Pioneers of Web Journalism, the Future Is Still Full of Surprises

"Roundtable panelists discuss the value of blogs, business strategies for pricing content and what professionals and consumers alike should look forward to." (Mark Glaser - USC Annenberg: Online Journalism Review) - courtesy of glenn fleish

Posted on September 12, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Writing Skills and Better Visual Design

"Strong visual design is about balance. It requires an appropriate relationship between written content, information hierarchy and the use of visual elements such as graphics and photography." (Dirk Knemeyer - Thread)

Posted on September 08, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Writing Photo Captions for the Web

"Photographs are rarely self-sufficient. They need captions. A caption tells us something about the person or thing photographed, also something about the photographer. In this article, we discuss how to write photo captions for the Web. We provide examples from adultsí and childrenís work." (Ruth Garner, Mark Gillingham, and Yong Zhao - First Monday 8.9)

Posted on September 04, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy

"(...) copy can address some of the most pressing challenges facing your business online." (Nick Usborne)

Posted on July 23, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

10 Tips on Writing the Living Web

"(...) the Living Web, the part of the web that is always changing. Writing for the Living Web is a tremendous challenge. Here are ten tips that can help." (Mark Bernstein - A List Apart)

Posted on February 16, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Reading Design

"(...) the primary goal of communication design: to make vital, engaging work intended above all to be read." (Dean Allen - A List Apart)

Posted on December 04, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Web Writing for Many Interest Levels

"Clear, usable content is easily created by deliberating writing for many different levels of reader interest" (Nathan Wallace - e-gineer)

Posted on November 04, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Online Journalism

Modelling the First Generation of News Media on the World Wide Web (Mark Deuze - FirstMonday 6.10)

Posted on October 04, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Comprehension, Coherence and Strategies in Hypertext and Linear Text

"(...) the evaluation of hypertext from the perspective of text comprehension" (Peter W. Foltz - Dept. of Psychology -New Mexico State University)

Posted on January 08, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

The Elements of Style

"(...) a must-have for any student and conscientious writer" (William Struck, Jr)

Posted on January 02, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Interface Design and Optimization of Reading of Continuous Text

"(...) reading is the means by which the world does a large part of its work" (Paul Muter - University of Toronto)

Posted on November 01, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Writing Techniques

"Specific do's and don'ts, with examples" (Good Documents)

Posted on September 09, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Contentious

For writers, editors, and others who create content for online media (Editor: Amy Gahran, online content consultant)

Posted on June 29, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack