Hints and tips forgood web content

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.

A University website?• We don’t have one website – 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

How people ‘use’ websites• People ‘scan’ web pages! – “Am I there yet?”• Aid ‘scannability’ by using correct formatting and

content

Source: Nielsen, Useit.com, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

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!

Define a clear purpose for the content1. 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 define a clear purpose - the content is probably not needed

• Demonstrate, don’t preach

Good content – is your content…•It

communicates, gets the message across, has clear call to action

Clear

•Get to the point at the start, use plain English, reduce ‘fluff’

Concise

•Consistent language and style so it’s easier to understand and looks professional

Consistent

Could be improved

http://www.brad.ac.uk/health/dementia/DementiaCareMapping/WorkingwiththeBritishStandardsInstitute/

Good examples

http://www.bradford.ac.uk/study/request-course-information/

http://www.bradford.ac.uk/study/mature-students/

Before

http://www.bradford.ac.uk/management/

After

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

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

Examples of avoiding duplication

Tips for writing for the web• Most important information 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 (half of users navigate using links

within content copy)• Write in Plain English and avoid ‘fluff’ or marketing speak

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

Images• Image dimensions• Image placement• Padding, margins and float• Using the media library (include the file type

and file size for all media)

Media library

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

Formatting - Text• Never underline text for emphasis

– Use headings and bold instead– Underlined text is for links only, and is automatic– Bad for usability

• Italics should be seldom used:– Difficult to read on a screen– Use bold to emphasise instead

Headings• Define structure of

webpage• Separate content and

assist ‘scannability’

• Heading 1• Heading 2

• Heading 3• Heading 3

• Heading 2• Heading 3

• Heading 2• Heading 3• Heading 3

Heading 1Main Content Title• Important for Search

Engines!

http://www.bradford.ac.uk/fees-and-financial-support/tuition-fees/

Heading 2Important Sub-heading

Heading 3Less Important Sub-heading

Headings• Important for:

• Accessibility (e.g. screen readers)• Search engine optimisation (SEO)• Separating content • Legibility and scannability• Document structure

Before

After

http://www.bradford.ac.uk/sled/what-we-do/access-widening-participation/awp-reports/

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?

• Manually check that pages are clear and easy to read. Check that large blocks of text are not presented as capitals or italics.

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

• Always add URIs (important for Search engines - SEO)– Lower case with hyphens between words e.g.:

• access-and-widening-participation• what-we-do

Some T4 reminders

www.bradford.ac.uk/sled/what-we-do

Some T4 reminders• Changing page names and URIs affects 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).

T4 template training • New web page for guides from web team• For example News & Events see:

– http://www.bradford.ac.uk/marketing-and-communications/web-team/tutorials-and-guides/

Thank you.

Any questions email: web-team@bradford.ac.uk