Hints and tips for good web content

1. Hints and tips forgood 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 – 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 Source: Nielsen, Useit.com, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html People ‘scan’ web pages! – “Am I there yet?” Aid ‘scannability’ by using correct formatting and content

6. Why Users ‘Scan’ web pages • Computer screen reading 25% slowerthan 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 What is the business goal? What action do you want from the user? What are you trying to communicate, and who with? 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

8. Good content – is your content…

9. Could be improved http://www.brad.ac.uk/health/dementia/DementiaCareMapping/WorkingwiththeBritishStandardsInstitute/

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

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

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

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 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

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

23. Headings • Heading 1 • Heading 2 • Heading 3 • Heading 3 • Heading 2 • Heading 3 • Heading 2 • Heading 3 • Heading 3 Define structure of webpage Separate content and assist ‘scannability’

24. Heading 1 • Main Content Title • Important for Search Engines! Heading 2 Important Sub-heading Heading 3 Less Important Sub-heading http://www.bradford.ac.uk/fees-and-financial-support/tuition-fees/

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

26. Before

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

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 www.bradford.ac.uk/sled/what-we-do • Always add URIs (important for Search engines - SEO) • Lower case with hyphens between words e.g.: • access-and-widening-participation • what-we-do

31. 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).

32. 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/

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