“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

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

“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)

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

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)