http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/Quality_Web_Content A listing of works published by Quality Web Content in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Quality_Web_Content http://tc.eserver.org/26158.html http://tc.eserver.org/26158.html Ample research has proved that companies can save many thousands of dollars by rewriting key documents in plain English. Poor communication on the Web and intranet are squandering the time and money of many an organisation. http://tc.eserver.org/26157.html http://tc.eserver.org/26157.html Since the world went online we see this word 'content', meaning the stuff that is published on a website or intranet. Why do we need this word? It's all to do with the dominance of technology. http://tc.eserver.org/26154.html http://tc.eserver.org/26154.html Most government web writers are knowledgeable about alt-text by now... or at least semi-knowledgeable. But sometimes, alt-text is not enough. http://tc.eserver.org/26146.html http://tc.eserver.org/26146.html My worst experiences with hospitality sites have been to do with vague location, online timetables, poor follow-up communication, and out of date information. I have wasted days as a result, which I hate. http://tc.eserver.org/26151.html http://tc.eserver.org/26151.html You don't have to swallow a grammar book to write correctly. If you can just avoid ten serious and very common traps, your chances of making a grammar mistake drop dramatically. http://tc.eserver.org/26153.html http://tc.eserver.org/26153.html The cost depends on how long and complex the document is, and how much editing is required. Most editors have a fixed hourly rate, and will quote for a job after they have studied the document. Skilled wordsmiths usually charge more per hour, because they do the job faster. When you find a fine wordsmith, handle with care. They are not exactly thick on the ground. http://tc.eserver.org/26149.html http://tc.eserver.org/26149.html Today, at least in this country, most government and corporate organisations are well aware that words online matter. A lot. Even when the technology is perfect, words can make or break the success of a web site or intranet. So sure, words now get due respect in many quarters. http://tc.eserver.org/26152.html http://tc.eserver.org/26152.html Consistent spelling and punctuation increases your website's credibility. Often it's your decision: 'inhouse' or 'in-house', for instance? Either one is correct, but you must use the same punctuation throughout. http://tc.eserver.org/26141.html http://tc.eserver.org/26141.html Where to put links on a web page? That's a standard dilemma for content writers. Best to establish a policy and make sure all writers on your site follow it. That has an added advantage of standardising the 'look' of your pages. http://tc.eserver.org/26144.html http://tc.eserver.org/26144.html Every country has its own requirements for public sector web sites. Legislation and policies vary greatly, and express an attitude. I base my Quality Web Content workshops for government web content writers on the policy of the country concerned. Some countries consider that an accessible site requires accessible writing. Others don't. http://tc.eserver.org/26143.html http://tc.eserver.org/26143.html What is this thing called web content? I fear most people still believe that it's something as trivial as a whitebait in a bucket. Fresh whitebait is transparent. If you don't look hard, you can only see the container, and not the thing contained. http://tc.eserver.org/26148.html http://tc.eserver.org/26148.html Do these quick tests on every web page you write or edit. Use the tests for quality control of web content. http://tc.eserver.org/26155.html http://tc.eserver.org/26155.html Every directory on the site must have an index page. The index.htm or index.html page is a standard requirement for every directory on every site. http://tc.eserver.org/26150.html http://tc.eserver.org/26150.html Virtually every search engine and directory is now associated with some kind of paid solution, and it is tempting to see them as an easy way to get top ranking for your web site. http://tc.eserver.org/26145.html http://tc.eserver.org/26145.html In the past, I have been bothered by the lack of a coherent summary of research on web writing. In November 2003 the problem was solved by the (US) National Cancer Institute, for the time being, at least. http://tc.eserver.org/26142.html http://tc.eserver.org/26142.html Publications pages are often among the most popular pages on web sites, particularly government sites. But this handy convention has turned into a problem. http://tc.eserver.org/26147.html http://tc.eserver.org/26147.html Some main points submitted by readers about writing for intranets, in quotation marks or paraphrased. http://tc.eserver.org/26137.html http://tc.eserver.org/26137.html A few ideas for ad hoc workforce communication that must be conveyed on paper as well as electronically. http://tc.eserver.org/26139.html http://tc.eserver.org/26139.html In 2002 I saved nine sample web pages from corporate web sites, for teaching purposes. On 1 June 2004 I took another look at those pages or their current equivalent. No way is this a systematic study or even a random sample. But the results are interesting and do reflect trends in corporate web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/26138.html http://tc.eserver.org/26138.html When training web authors, I prefer to use good examples of their kind, so these must have been either typical or among the best I could find at the time. However, they certainly did not contain content to skite about. http://tc.eserver.org/26131.html http://tc.eserver.org/26131.html It's time to take a look at the working draft of WCAG 2.0. You'll see a fresh approach to a formidable challenge. http://tc.eserver.org/26130.html http://tc.eserver.org/26130.html The first text in most web and intranet pages should be a summary of 1-2 sentences. That's a good rule of thumb. The starter-summary has several important functions. http://tc.eserver.org/26140.html http://tc.eserver.org/26140.html Certain expressions in web content get users all discombobulated. Relative expressions of time and place need an anchor, a key, right there in the text. Some common confusers follow. They would not be a problem in other circumstances. But on the Web or intranet, every page must make sense in isolation. http://tc.eserver.org/26134.html http://tc.eserver.org/26134.html In this study, 2,684 people evaluated the credibility of two live web sites randomly assigned from one of 10 content categories. A total of 100 sites were assessed. The Stanford credibility team analysed the comments to discover how consumers evaluated credibility online. http://tc.eserver.org/26133.html http://tc.eserver.org/26133.html Redundant, outdated and trivial content (ROT): you're soaking in it. First and second generation web sites and intranets are full of ROT. It's almost inevitable when you have a web site but no system for reviewing content regularly. http://tc.eserver.org/26136.html http://tc.eserver.org/26136.html I have long wondered why government web sites all over the world tend to use metadata of several different types jumbled together and overlapping. For example, pages with two description metatags or two or three title tags are common. I suspect that most of the replication and confusion has developed for historical reasons. http://tc.eserver.org/26135.html http://tc.eserver.org/26135.html Change is upon us, whether we like it or not. HTML is the default technology for accessible documents online according to the W3C and most government standards. That means goodbye to the easy solution of flinging scores of long documents on to a web site as Word or PDF files. http://tc.eserver.org/26129.html http://tc.eserver.org/26129.html Where do your eyes go when you read articles on the Web? What do you notice, and what do you miss? The upper left quarter of the screen gets the most attention, according to the Eyetrack III research of The Poynter Institute, the Estlow Center for Journalism & New Media, and Eyetools. http://tc.eserver.org/26128.html http://tc.eserver.org/26128.html The standards on this page include non-technical standards relevant to all web authors and technical standards relevant to some web authors. http://tc.eserver.org/26127.html http://tc.eserver.org/26127.html A government organisation in New Zealand wants to create standards for graphs, especially online graphs. Until now, we haven't been able to find any existing standards, so we will have to start from scratch. http://tc.eserver.org/23941.html http://tc.eserver.org/23941.html Make your documents easy for EFL users to read and understand, and communicate successfully with people all over the world. About one billion people use English as a foreign language (EFL). You can avoid most pitfalls of cross-cultural communication by using global English.