Topics: Content: Writing
How to write good. Urp. Writing to communicate. Writing and editing for the web. Copy as user interface. (31 articles)
Future-Ready Content
by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
Issue 345February 28, 2012
The future is flexible, and we’re bending with it. From responsive web design to futurefriend.ly thinking, we’re moving quickly toward a web that’s more fluid, less fixed, and more easily accessed on a multitude of devices. As we embrace this shift, we need to relinquish control of our content as well, setting it free from the boundaries of a traditional web page to flow as needed through varied displays and contexts. Most conversations about structured content dive headfirst into the technical bits: XML, DITA, microdata, RDF. But structure isn’t just about metadata and markup; it’s what that metadata and markup mean. Sara Wachter-Boettcher shares a framework for making smart decisions about our content's structure.
Making up Stories: Perception, Language, and the Web
by Elizabeth McGuane / Randall Snare
Issue 333August 23, 2011
Stories have been around as long as we have, helping us understand our world and ourselves. We learn and retain information best through stories, because they turn information into more than the sum of its parts. But what makes a story a story, and what does it mean for the digital world we’ve built? Elizabeth McGuane and Randall Snare weave an enchanting tale of attention, comprehension, inference, coherence, and shopping.
Art Direction and Design
by Dan Mall
Issue 317November 2, 2010
Sure, your design’s composition is perfectly balanced, the typographical hierarchy works, and the contrast is bang on. But, when you step back and take a look, how does it make you feel? Does your design evoke the right emotion? Dan Mall explains the difference between art direction and design on the web and challenges us to do it again, this time with feeling.
Words that Zing
by Colleen Jones
Issue 300February 9, 2010
When someone consults a website, there is a precious opportunity not only to provide useful information but also to influence their decision. To make the most of this opportune moment, we must ensure that the site says or does precisely the right thing at precisely the right time. Understanding the rhetorical concept of kairos can help us craft a context for the opportune moment and hit the mark with appropriately zingy text.
You Can Get There From Here: Websites for Learners
by Amber Simmons
Issue 295November 3, 2009
"Content-rich" is not enough. Most websites are not learner-friendly. As an industry, we haven’t done our best to make our content-rich websites suitable for learning and exploration. Learners require more from us than keywords and killer headlines. They need an environment that is narrative, interactive, and discoverable. Amber Simmons tells how to begin creating rich content sites that invite and repay exploration and discovery.
Content Templates to the Rescue
by Erin Kissane
Issue 287July 7, 2009
As an industry, we’ve learned to plan our sites to achieve business goals and meet human needs while shipping on time and delivering compelling user experiences. Alas, despite all the sweat we pour into strategy sessions and GANTT charts, we still have to coax content out of our subject matter experts and get it onto every page of the site. This is where the strongest hearts grow frail, and even seasoned developers reach for Advil or something stronger. But help, in the form of content templates, is on the way. Seize the power.
Content-tious Strategy
by Jeffrey MacIntyre
Issue 274December 16, 2008
Every website faces two key questions: 1. What content do we have at hand? 2. What content should we produce? Answering those questions is the domain of the content strategist. Alas, real content strategy gets as little respect today as information architecture did in 1995. MacIntyre defines the roles, tools, and value of this emerging user experience specialist.
The Discipline of Content Strategy
by Kristina Halvorson
Issue 274December 16, 2008
It's time to stop pretending content is somebody else’s problem. If content strategy is all that stands between us and the next fix-it-later copy draft or beautifully polished but meaningless site launch, it’s time to take up the torch—time to make content matter. Halvorson tells how to understand, learn, practice, and plan for content strategy.
Writing Content that Works for a Living
by Erin Kissane
Issue 271November 4, 2008
Most web copy is still being written by people who aren't writers and don't have time. The good news? Anyone who touches copy can make a difference by insisting that every chunk of text on the site do something concrete.
Putting Our Hot Heads Together
by Carolyn Wood
Issue 265August 12, 2008
The web is a conversation, but not always a productive one. Web discussions too often degenerate into whines, jabs, sour grapes, and one-upmanship. How can we transform discussion forums and comment sections from shooting ranges into arenas of collaboration?
The Cure for Content-Delay Syndrome
by Pepi Ronalds
Issue 259May 20, 2008
Clients love to write copy. Well, they love to plan to write it, anyhow. On most web design projects, content is the last thing to be considered (and almost always the last thing to be delivered). We’ll spend hours, weeks, even months, doing user scenarios, site maps, wireframes, designs, schemas, and specifications—but content? It’s a disrespected line item in a schedule: “final content delivered.” Pepi Ronalds proposes a solution to this constant cause of project delays.
Greatest Copy Shot Ever Written
by Nick Padmore
Issue 248November 6, 2007
"Got Milk?", "Don’t leave home without it", "Good to the last drop." You know these taglines and the products associated with them. So what makes a great copy shot? Is there a formula? And can understanding advertising help us write better web copy?
Reviving Anorexic Web Writing
by Amber Simmons
Issue 242July 31, 2007
Intelligent web content is the literature of our time. Amber Simmons argues that conventional approaches have starved the life out of web writing.
Better Writing Through Design
by Bronwyn Jones
Issue 242July 31, 2007
How is it that the very foundation of the web, written text, has taken a strategic back seat to design? Bronwyn Jones argues that great web design is not possible without the design of words.
Who Needs Headlines?
by Shaun Crowley
Issue 238May 29, 2007
A designer formats and places text. Technically, the job ends there. But some designers go further, sharpening their clients' content to grab and focus user attention. In so doing, they create more effective sites—and gain an advantage over other designers. Drawing on decades of copywriter lore, Shaun Crowley discusses seduction by headline and other principles of writing that sells.
Your About Page Is a Robot
by Erin Kissane
Issue 222August 22, 2006
Everyone has one. No one likes to talk about it. No, not that. It's your About page, and it needs a little love. ALA's Erin Kissane guides you through a beautiful journey of self-discovery.
Gentle Reader, Stay Awhile; I Will Be Faithful
by Amber Simmons
Issue 221August 8, 2006
Bloggers and copywriters take heed: it takes more than daily publication to build relationships. Amber Simmons provides advice on engaging readers and keeping them coming back.
Calling All Designers: Learn to Write!
by Derek Powazek
Issue 216May 9, 2006
You know all that copy that goes around your forms and in your confirmation e-mails? Who's writing it? Derek Powazek explains why it's important for user-interface designers to sharpen up their writing skills.
Attack of the Zombie Copy
by Erin Kissane
Issue 206October 24, 2005
You’ve seen them around the web, these zombie sentences. They’re not hard to recognize: syntax slack and drooling, clauses empty of everything but a terrible hunger for human brains. Here’s how to fight back.
A List Apart 4.0
by Jeffrey Zeldman
Issue 201August 22, 2005
From the crown of its cranium to the tips of its Ruby-slippered toes, A List Apart 4.0 is both old and new.
Helping Your Visitors: a State of Mind
by Nick Usborne
Issue 171February 20, 2004
Even the simplest website is harder to figure out than a catalog or magazine. We all know how to “use” a catalog: start at the front cover and keep turning the pages. But with every new site we visit, we have to “learn” how it works, how its “pages” turn, how to find what we’re looking for. Text that takes visitors’ needs into account can help guide them through the maze.
A Fairy, a Low-Fat Bagel, and a Sack of Hammers
by Nick Usborne
Issue 162November 7, 2003
Never underestimate the importance of words on the web.
10 Tips on Writing the Living Web
by Mark Bernstein
Issue 149August 16, 2002
Your information architecture is as smooth, clear, and inviting as a lake. Your design rocks. Your code works. But what keeps readers coming back is compelling writing that’s continually fresh and new. Updating daily content can challenge the most dedicated scribe or site owner. Mark Bernstein’s ten tips will help you keep the good words (and readers) coming.
How to Write a Better Weblog
by Dennis A. Mahoney
Issue 138February 22, 2002
Great writing can’t be taught, but bad writing can be avoided. Mahoney shares tips to enhance the writing on your personal site, blog, journal, etc.
Typography Matters
by Erin Kissane
Issue 124October 19, 2001
It’s a style thing. It’s a usability thing. It’s a tricky thing for large content sites and a step up for independents. It’s typographically correct punctuation on the web, and ALA’s Erin Kissane makes the case for it.
Evolving Client Content
by Steven Garrity
Issue 120August 31, 2001
Content management systems are only as good as the content they manage. Garrity explores the care and feeding of low-budget clients who need high-quality content.
Beyond Usability and Design: The Narrative Web
by Mark Bernstein
Issue 106April 20, 2001
Crafting a narrative web: To succeed profoundly, Bernstein says, websites must go beyond usability and design, deeply engaging readers by turning their journeys through the site into rich, memorable, narrative experiences.
The Art of Topless Dancing and Information Design
by Denice Warren
Issue 93December 20, 2000
Creating a web site makes for all sorts of strange working relationships. What does an information designer have to do to get a little cooperation?
A Case for Web Storytelling
by Curt Cloninger
Issue 92December 10, 2000
In our attention to style and technology, we often overlook a vital element in the web design mix: narrative voice.
Why Are You Here?
by Scott Jason Cohen
Issue 72July 14, 2000
Whether we’re designing experimental sites or keeping an online diary, we go to the web in search of meaning. Will we find it? Or will we build it ourselves?
Language: The Ultimate User Interface
by Julia Hayden
Issue 59April 14, 2000
Words. Language. Meaning. They’re a nutritious part of your complete website. So why do so many webmakers treat language like an afterthought? Julia Hayden explores ways to make words work.
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