Nothing is worse than delivering a sparkling new site full of promise and seeing it ruined with crappy content. The best designed sites can be wrecked with blurry imagery, poor copy, and incorrect use of styles. This talk covers factors that contribute to crappy content implementation and the steps we can take to avoid them. I will share deliverables that close the gap between site launch and maintenance.

1. Nica Lorber / Creative Director / Chapter Three
nicelobster
DON'T LET CRAPPY CONTENT
RUIN YOUR NEW SITE
JUNE 3, 2014 / DRUPALCON AUSTIN / UX DESIGN TRACK

2. chapter_three

3. AMAZING
WEBSITES
BEAUTIFUL
DESIGN
ROCK SOLID
DEVELOPMENT
MEANINGFUL
CONTENT
AMAZING
WEBSITES

4. THE PROBLEM

5. photo credit; Joey Parsons https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeyparsons/3531756010/
Businesses & organizations diminish the
investment in their sites with poor content

6. THE SOLUTION

7. 1. More resources
2. Better education
3. Better planning

8. RESOURCING

9. DIGITAL STRATEGIST
DESIGNER
UX DESIGNER
PROJECT MANAGER
WRITER
INFORMATION ARCHITECT
SEO EXPERT
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT
MARKETER
DRUPAL ADMINISTRATOR
DATA ANALYST
CONTENT STRATEGIST
DEVELOPER
SUBJECT EXPERT
HMTL CHOPS

10. PROJECT MANAGER
DRUPAL ADMINISTRATOR
DATA ANALYST
HMTL CHOPS

11. PROJECT MANAGER
WRITER
MARKETER

12. DIGITAL STRATEGIST
DESIGNER
UX SPECIALIST
PROJECT MANAGER
COPY WRITER
INFORMATION ARCHITECT
SEO SPECIALIST
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT
MARKETER
DRUPAL ADMINISTRATOR
DATA ANALYST
CONTENT STRATEGIST
DEVELOPER
SUBJECT EXPERT
HMTL CHOPS
Content needs a CHAMPION!
Photo by: John Haslam / http://bit.ly/1nx0N9i

13. CONTENT DESERVES
MORE $$$$$.

14. RESOURCING SOLUTIONS
• Invest in training your best suited employees
• Prioritize employee retention (more $$$)
• Empower those who understand the web

15. EDUCATION

16. WHAT IS CONTENT?

17. NAVIGATION

18. COPY

19. IMAGES

20. GRAPHICS

21. TAXONOMY

22. VIDEOS

23. Taxonomy
Usability?
Images
Graphics
SYNTHESIS
of everything on your site
Video
Navigation
Speed?
Copy

24. WHAT IS CRAPPY CONTENT?

25. 1. Is not curated for the web
2. Decreases usability
3. Does not meet site goals

26. WRITING FOR THE WEB
HTTP://CHAPTERTHREE.COM/BLOG/HOW-WRITE-WEB

27. WHY WRITE DIFFERENTLY
FOR THE WEB?
• People read 20% slower online
• People are task focused
• People scan

28. Reference: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/

34. CONTENT LENGTH?

36. AVOID REDUNDANT PHRASES

37. WRITE CONCISELY

38. AVOID BANNER BLINDNESS

40. DEFINE CONTENT GOALS
1. What is the communication goal of the page?
2. Who is the audience?
3. What are the key calls to action?

41. GOALS FOR EDITING
1. What is the utilitarian function of the page?
2. Can content be shorter or more skimmable?
3. Can redundant content be eliminated?

44. BREAK GRAMMAR RULES
• Sentence fragments allow users to scan
• 1, 2, 3, instead of one, two, three
• Paragraphs don’t need 3-5 sentences
REF: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/break-grammar-rules/

45. SOURCING IMAGERY
• Who is in charge of imagery?
• Are there imagery guidelines?
• Is there an image budget?

46. SOURCING PHOTOS
• Take them yourself
• Search Creative Commons
• Buy them
• Hire a photographer

47. RESOURCES
• http://www.istockphoto.com
• http://www.stocksy.com
• http://search.creativecommons.org
• http://compfight.com

48. EXAMPLE

49. PLANNING

50. BETTER UX
•What is the nature of the content?
•Who are the content creators?
•What are their skills?
•Image heavy?
•Who writes?
•How often?

51. CONTENT TEASERS

52. CONTENT TEASERS

53. AUTOMATE TEASER LENGTH

54. MAKE HELPER TEXT
ON IMAGE UPLOADS

59. CREATE DRUPAL-SPECIFIC
EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

62. Pixelated

63. DESIGN THE GUIDELINES

64. TEACH IN PERSON

65. WRITE

68. 1. More resources
2. Better education
3. Better planning

69. THANK YOU!
Nica Lorber / Creative Director / Chapter Three
nicelobster