{"id":569,"date":"2015-05-26T10:01:44","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T09:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/?p=569"},"modified":"2015-05-20T13:13:19","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T12:13:19","slug":"experts-to-inspire-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/2015\/05\/26\/experts-to-inspire-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts to Inspire You"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We like to keep ourselves up to date with the <strong>latest developments in the web industry<\/strong> by reading.\u00a0A lot.<\/p>\n<p>We read books, articles, websites and blogs and thought we\u2019d pick <strong>some of the quotes we really, really like<\/strong>. Hopefully you can spot why\u2026<\/p>\n<h2>Usability<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;When I look at a web page it should be self-evident. Obvious. Self-explanatory.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I should be able to &#8216;get it&#8217; &#8211; what it is and how to use it- without expending any effort thinking about it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Steve Krug<\/strong><br \/>\nDon&#8217;t make me think<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is very important that your website is visually pleasing. However it is much more important your website is useful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Gerry McGovern<\/strong><br \/>\nKiller Web Content<\/p>\n<h2>Your content is important<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cLanguage is at the heart of communication, and the only purpose of a website is to communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Seth Godin<\/strong><br \/>\nThe First Rule of Web Design<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour writing is important. At the end of the day, you\u2019re a person communicating with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Nicole Fenton<\/strong> and <strong>Kate Kiefer Lee<\/strong><br \/>\nNicely said. Writing for the web with style and purpose<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the heading is the hook, the summary is the line that pulls you in. The summary gives readers all the information they need to decide whether to read on or not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Gerry McGovern<\/strong><br \/>\nKiller Web Content<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A person who produces content without understanding the tasks the content needs to support is a dangerous person indeed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Gerry McGovern<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Stranger&#8217;s Long Neck<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the limitations of the mobile screen as a guideline and a barrier, you\u2019d naturally have to write differently.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You\u2019d get to the point.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019d put the most important information up front.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019d remove all the marketing jargon and fluff.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019d write short declarative sentences.<\/li>\n<li>You wouldn\u2019t use a long word when a short one would do.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019d make every word earn its place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Writing this way isn\u2019t just good for writing for mobile. It\u2019s good writing for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Karen McGrane<\/strong><br \/>\nContent Strategy for Mobile<\/p>\n<h2>Going mobile<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cUse going mobile as a lens to make all our content better regardless of platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a big chance to create a better user experience by improving the quality of our content. Let\u2019s not waste it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Karen McGrane<\/strong><br \/>\nContent Strategy for Mobile<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe work you do now, to structure content for reuse and get it ready for mobile, is going to also make that content more prepared for wherever the future takes it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsidering all the different devices on which your content may be displayed forces you to focus \u2013 to take stock of what\u2019s really important and to get rid of things that aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Sara Wachter-Boettcher<\/strong><br \/>\nContent Everywhere<\/p>\n<h2>Your messaging<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cMessaging is the art of deciding what information or ideas you have that you want to give to \u2013 and get from- your users.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Kristina Halvorson<\/strong> and <strong>Melissa Rach<\/strong><br \/>\nContent Strategy for the Web<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUse the mobile screen\u2019s constraints to help prioritise your primary, secondary and supporting messages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Karen McGrane<\/strong><br \/>\nContent Strategy for Mobile<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You must have an ending to your content that is a call to action. Good web content is always task-focused, and the best ending allows your customers to go about completing their tasks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Gerry McGovern<\/strong><br \/>\nKiller Web Content<\/p>\n<h2>A final thought&#8230;<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Today, many websites are damaging the reputation of the organization. Every time someone finds the wrong content or clicks on a broken link, the brand is hurt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Gerry McGovern<\/strong><br \/>\nKiller Web Content<\/p>\n<h2>Feel inspired<\/h2>\n<p>So, do you feel inspired? And can you tell why we like these quotes?<\/p>\n<p>These experts all advocate good writing practice to improve the website experience for all.<\/p>\n<p>They all absolutely, utterly agree on one thing: <strong>content is king<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t have to be a designer or a developer to create a useful, successful website at the University (we\u2019ll do that for you) but you do have to <strong>care about your content<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Nicole Fenton and Kate Kiefer Lee \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nicelysaid.co\/\">Nicely said. Writing for the web with style and purpose<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Seth Godin \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/sethgodin.typepad.com\/seths_blog\/2015\/02\/the-first-rule-of-web-design.html\">The First Rule of Web Design<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/contentstrategy.com\/book.html\">Content Strategy for the Web<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Steve Krug \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sensible.com\/dmmt.html\">Don\u2019t Make Me Think<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Gerry McGovern \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gerrymcgovern.com\/books\/killer-web-content\">Killer Web Content<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Gerry McGovern \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gerrymcgovern.com\/books\/strangers-long-neck\">The Stranger&#8217;s Long Neck<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Karen McGrane \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/abookapart.com\/products\/content-strategy-for-mobile\">Content Strategy for Mobile<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Sara Wachter-Boettcher \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sarawb.com\/\">Content Everywhere<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We like to keep ourselves up to date with the latest developments in the web industry by reading.\u00a0A lot. We read books, articles, websites and blogs and thought we\u2019d pick some of the quotes we really, really like. Hopefully you &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/2015\/05\/26\/experts-to-inspire-you\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1269,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[41,53,46,56,65,29,39,26],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content","tag-content-management","tag-content-prioritisation","tag-content-strategy","tag-messaging","tag-mobile","tag-responsive-design","tag-usability","tag-writing-for-the-web"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}