Elements of Web Design: Content

October 03, 2003 | View Comments (0) | Category: Design

Summary: The power of content and how you should write your content for you website.

Content is really what makes or break your site. Your site could be one of the ugliest around (FARK.com) and yet also be one of the most popular simply due to the content. It is one thing to tell yourself you are going to design a site that is devoted to video games and another thing to actually breakdown what aspect of games you are going to focus on. I mean are you really going to just make another games review site? That's not original content.

As designers many times you will not be responsible for the content that goes on the site because hopefully your clients will provide you with body copies of the content they want. However, it is your responsibility to know what kind of content is Internet friendly. Just because someone hands you some content does not mean it should go untouched directly to the website. Content written for a brochure is not necessarily good for a website. The more information you can pack into the smallest amount of words while still making sense and getting your messge across the better.

If I go to a news site I can expect to see semi-long articles. These are expected because the majority of the time all of those words are needed to describe the event. When I go to a sports site and all I want to see is the score of the baseball game that is all I expect to see. I do not need to see the box score, but it is good that they provide a link for it. Different content for different pages.

Many designers have a hard time writing quality content. This is a great reason to have a personal website. Try not to focus on the amount of traffic generated (I know, I know, it's hard not to), but on the content you are producing. When writing an entry make sure you are explaining whatever your topic is well enough that people will understand without having to question. However, you must also stay away from becoming too wordy that you are over-explaining the content. It is a fine line and takes practice and the only way to do that is to write. A key to remember is that most people use the Internet for the speed they can acquire information. If you hinder their information gathering by writing excessively about nothing, then they may move on.

Every entry you see on this site is never published as it was originally typed. I always go back and read the entry and delete words that are not necessary and adding words that are. The same way you can have minimalistic design, you can also have a minimalistic writing style. I see minimalism as taking out what is necessary, while leaving everything that is necessary.

If you need to find two producers of great content look no further than Jason Kottke and Jeffrey Zeldman. Kottke's content always has a style of its own that is unique to him. Maybe it is the content that he decides to use or maybe it is his writing style. Whatever it is it works superbly. It can be argued that Zeldman is no longer the grand revolutionary that he once was teaching everyone about the benefits of web standards and different ways we could use them. One reason is that he no longer has to because every other major designer has already jumped on the boat and second there are so many great independent websites showing new CSS techniques everyday that he no longer has to (although it will be nice to have ALA back). His content now is more of a summary of what is "hot" in the web design community. Many of the links that he posts I have already visited before he even posted them, but he always seems to link an item that I missed and that item usually always rocks. His content and writing style are truly second to none.

When I write for this site I use a style and tone that shows I know what I am talking about because most of you have no idea how to write. Ooops...that wasn't supposed to go there (proofread!). That was put there on purpose to hopefully put a smile on your face (hint: I am clearly no expert). That is how quickly your content can change the attitudes of your users. If you style, tone, and voice are wrong for the content then the message will not be delivered correctly. Jakob Nielsen sounds like an arrogant bastard here and who knows if that is what he intended. However, his choice of words and writing style put him off like that and now people who were indifferent towards him probably dislike him. Content is powerful.

Final words taken from E.B. White's Elements of Style:

17. Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

Other designers who have a great sense of writing style include Keith, Dave, and Andy amongst many others.

UPDATE: I forgot my favorite producer of content ftrain. If you have not read some of his stuff, please proceed to do so. You will not regret it.

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