The University s web presence

Transcription

1 Hints and tips for good web content

2 The University s web presence To clearly inform prospective students, their influencers, researchers, potential members of staff, and other stakeholders about the activities of the University of Bradford with the aim of them choosing to study, research, work or engage with the University.

3 A University website? We don t have one website bi we have many, so need to make the journey as easy for users as possible as they won t know how we are structured or where things live The journey can start anywhere external home, School home, random page etc User oriented not internally structured Has to be useful and usable

4 How people use websites People scan web pages! Am I there yet? Aid scannability by using correct formatting and content Source: Nielsen, Useit.com,

5

6 Why Users Scan web pages Computer screen reading 25% slower than paper The web is a user driven medium Information foraging users want information quickly Large, dense paragraphs off putting too much work!

7 Define a clear purpose for the content 1. What is the business goal? 2. What action do you want from the user? 3. What are you trying to communicate, and who with? 4. How will you know when you have achieved the site objectives?? If you can t dfi define a clear purpose the content tis probably bbl not needed Demonstrate, don t preach

8 Good content is your content Clear It communicates, gets the message across, has clear call to action Concise Get to the point at the start, use plain English, reduce fluff Consistent Consistent language and style so it s easier to understand and looks professional

9 Could be improved ementia/dementiacaremappin g/workingwiththebritishstanda rdsinstitute/

10 Good examples

11

12 Before

13 After

14 What s the best place for the content? Imagine you re the user think where you d look for the information Easy to find, navigable Information architecture

15 Avoid duplicate content Bad for SEO, accessibility and content management Put the content in the right place in the first place Use links within content to refer back to pages (50% of clicks normally within content area not navigation) Source: Nielsen useit.com

16 Examples of avoiding duplication

17 Tips for writing for the web Most important information i first! Above the fold Get to the point and keep it simple Take time to write a good page title and headings (keyword rich) Keep paragraphs and sentences short Use sub headings and lists to break up content Use links within content t(half of users navigate using links within content copy) Write in Plain English and avoid fluff or marketing speak

18 Avoid Jargon and slang Use of italics, underlining, Dialect Pompous words and clichés Justified text Exclamation marks

19 Images Image dimensions Image placement Padding, margins and float Using the media library (include the file type and file size for all media)

20 Media library

21 Formatting Content Headings Lists Paragraph length Text formatting 3 and 2 column template layouts available

22 Formatting Text Never underline text for emphasis Use headings and bold instead Underlined text is for links only, and is automatic Badfor usability Italics should be seldom used: Difficult to read on a screen Usebold to emphasise instead

23 Headings Define structure of webpage Heading 1 Heading 2 Heading 3 Heading 3 Separate content and Heading 2 assist scannability Heading 3 Heading 2 Heading 3 Heading 3

24 Heading 1 Main Content Title Important for Search Engines! Heading 2 Important Sub heading Heading 3 Less Important Sub heading

25 Headings Important for: Accessibility (e.g. screen readers) Search engine optimisation (SEO) Separating content Legibility and scannability Document structure

26 Before

27 After

28 Manually check that pages are clear and easy to read. Check that large blocks of text are not presented as capitals or italics. Preview and proof Always use the Preview function in T4 Don t forget to proof read Edit, edit and edit again! Get others to proof read Think back to the purpose of the content and the audience is the content achieving it?

29 Ongoing content management Credible websites are up to date Add expiry dates to time sensitive content

30 Some T4 reminders Always add URIs (important for Search engines SEO) Lower case with hyphens between words e.g.: access and widening participationand what we do

31 Some T4 reminders Changing page names and URIsaffects links (for e.g. forms, thank you pages). Any previous links to the page will be broken so avoid changing page names and URIs unless absolutely necessary. Use the Review Date, Expiry Date and Publish date functions in the Options section when modifying content (see below).

32 T4 template training New web page for guides from web team For example News & Events see: and communications/web team/tutorials and guides/ team/tutorials and

33 Thank you. Any questions web