This deck is featured here http://blog.list.ly/2014/08/20/7-ways-html-lists-are-dating-your-blog-they-are-25-years-old/ and here on Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140820231140-2043474-lists-a-content-platform-for-social-engagement-not-an-html-tag Why Are Lists Broken? We explore 7 problems facing the modern day hand-crafted HTML list. The biggest problem is it's not changed since 1989 when Tim Berners-Lee invented HTML. List authoring and list life-cycle management have been overlooked. Why do we use Lists? Why Lists? We use lists a lots, especially in blog posts. We call these "list posts" or Listicles (a term popularized by Buzzfeed). A lot has happened since 1989 when Tim Berners-Lee conceived the idea of HTML and introduced us to the idea of list tags >> "LI" "UL" and "OL" tags. Since 1989 our approach to content has become more social & aggregated. Curation has become a critical driver of social content and lists are a great ways to curate. Bookmarking has move from the desktop to internet services (it too has become social). Lists of bookmarks. Content reuse & embedding has taken off (via content repositories). Lots of web content has moved to central repositories. Slideshare, YouTube and Soundcloud are three great examples of Content Repositories. The recombine-ability of objects, content, people and places have become the norm - an expectation of the modern web visitor along with commenting and voting. How do you use Lists today? Do you think of Lists as a platform? Or are Lists just part of a blog post for your today. We think lists deserve more.

1. Time to
rethink
lists?
7 ways html lists are
dating your blog
Sir Tim berners-lee
25 years on from inventing HTML

2. Lists have been a Big
part of web pages since
Tim Berners-Lee
Invented html in 1989
Since then our approach to
content has become more social
& aggregated.
!
Curation has become a critical
driver of social content.
!
Sharing, content &
context have changed the
way we consume.
!
Content reuse & embedding has
become the norm (Slideshare &
Youtube being 2 such
platforms). Listly

3. Today, lists
look tired
Hand crafted
HTML Lists lag the
expectations &
norms of the
social-web.
!
It’s not an html
problem, but a
platform problem. Listly

4. Digging into lists
Earlier
We explored the
psychology of
lists.
Listly
Today
We explore 7
reasons why hand-crafted
HTML lists
are a dated approach
to managing lists.

5. 7 REASONS HTML Lists
Are dating your blog
Do your
lists act
like lists?
Act like
a List
Relevance/
Aging
List content
needs
updating over
time to stay
valuable
Can your list
content be re-used
as easily
as slides &
videos?
Are your lists
optimized
for three
screens &
search ?
Are your lists
hogging too
much
space?
Are you being
agile? Leave
gaps to entice
people to help
Are you failing
to aggregate
opinion or
relegating ideas
to the comment
section?
1
Reusable
Let go of
Perfect
Responsive
& Search
Socially
Inclusive
Precious
Pixels
2 3
4
6
5
7

6. Do your lists act
like lists? Act like
a List
1 HTML Lists don’t have any list-like
Problem SOLUTION
features.
HTML tags like <li> & <p> define a
post’s layout, but don’t add
social interaction or intelligence.
Humans will manually tag lists
inconsistently.
Loading images is both time
consuming & error prone.
Listly acts like a list.
Lists can be sorted, paginated,
searched & filtered, just like a list!
Items on the list can be shared
with their own unique URL (adding
context).
Listly Lists have many powerful
feature & uses. Images are a
breeze.
Listly

7. List content needs
updating over time
to stay valuable
Relevance/
Aging
2 It’s normal to need to add new
content to keep a list post
current/useful.
This does not happen as the focus
is on new content.
Your hard earned search rankings
decay as people bounce as your
lists are no longer current
We call this list rot
Problem SOLUTION
Don't make it your problem, but
rather reader responsibility.
If a list provides value, people
will contribute to extend &
maintain the list. People love to
be help.
Involve people emotionally to
build community, so your content
become more valuable over time.
Listly

8. Can your list
content be re-used
slides & videos? Reusable
as easily as
3 Today, lists live inside
posts on your blog as dumb
HTML/text.
If your lists are hard to re-use
Problem SOLUTION
( any they are), people
may copy without crediting.
Make it easy & people will
reuse (like slides).
Listly is designed to to
deliver lists (as objects) to
many sites & services
across the web.
Think Slideshare for a lists.
Lists can be embedded on
many blogs across the web.
Listly

9. Are you being agile?
Leave gaps to entice
people to help
Let go of
Perfect
4 We often try too hard to be
perfect, complete & exhaustive.
Leaving gaps & flaws entices
people to participate.
It’s actually less work and
builds participation. You can
seed more content & develop
the list that create
engagement.
Problem SOLUTION
A list that’s partially complete,
but shows promise, is intriguing.
Humans love to fill in gaps,
complete series & finish
sentences.
Listly lets you create content in
a fun, social & collaborative
way.
Listly

10. Are your lists
optimized for three
screens & search ?
Responsive
& Search
5 Text lists in blog posts are not
responsive (by design).
There’s no smarts to respond
uniquely to mobiles, desktop
& tablets.
Content & layout are bound
together, which is very limiting
(& not Google proofed).
Problem SOLUTION
Listly lists adapt intelligently to
the width they are given. ( ie
responsive objects).
Each list can have multiple
layout. Layout is a view time
decision.
Listly can respond as search
engines needs, keeping all your
lists compliant/optimized.
Listly

11. Are you failing to
aggregate opinion or
relegating ideas to
the comment section?
Socially
Inclusive
6 People expect to be able to
interact with web content.
With lists that means voting
& adding suggestions.
Static HTML lists on blogs
don’t support this
capability.
Problem SOLUTION
Listly lets people contribute.
Additions can be moderated, so
you get help but remain in
control.
Additions are linked to the
contributor’s social profiles.
List become living communities
of people who care about given
topics. Listly

12. Are your lists
hogging too
much space?
Precious
Pixels
7 Long lists become hard for users
to navigate & for bloggers to
manage.
They also require skill to edit.
Failure to tag the list correctly
can impact your search engine
rankings.
Reordering risks breaking a post.
Problem SOLUTION
Listly is designed to use
space responsibly.
Layouts, pagination & filtering
make your lists much more
useful to the reader.
Editing is simple & possible
from anywhere by anyone
without touching the post.
Listly

13. 7 REASONS HTML Lists
Are dating your blog
Do your
lists act
like lists?
Act like
a List
Relevance/
Aging
List content
needs
updating over
time to stay
valuable
Can your list
content be re-used
as easily
as slides &
videos?
Are your lists
optimized
for three
screens &
search ?
Are your lists
hogging too
much
space?
Are you being
agile? Leave
gaps to entice
people to help
Are you failing
to aggregate
opinion or
relegating ideas
to the comment
section?
1
Reusable
Let go of
Perfect
Responsive
& Search
Socially
Inclusive
Precious
Pixels
2 3
4
6
5
7

14. 7 REASONS HTML Lists
Are dating your blog
Do your
lists act
like lists?
Act like
a List
Relevance/
Aging
List content
needs
updating over
time to stay
valuable
Can your list
content be re-used
as easily
as slides &
videos?
Are your lists
optimized
for three
screens &
search ?
Are your lists
hogging too
much
space?
Are you being
agile? Leave
gaps to entice
people to help
Are you failing
to aggregate
opinion or
relegating ideas
to the comment
section?
1
Reusable
Let go of
Perfect
Responsive
& Search
Socially
Inclusive
Precious
Pixels
2 3
4
6
5
7

15. ImAgE
CrEdItS
Act like
a List
Relevance/
Aging
1
flirst
Reusable
Let go of
Perfect
gazeronly/
Mobile /
Responsive
Socially
Inclusive
gagilas
Precious
Pixels
2 3
4
6
5
7
tanaka
justin_vidamo
Werwin15
duald/
kamshots

16. Don’t miss Listly on Wordpress
Listly : for bloggers, brands, publishers &
journalists who want their readers to contribute
Listly embeds work on just
about all Blog/CMS platforms

17. Try
these
Links
1.Getting started guide
2.Local Lists
3.Listly About page
4.Why Lists
5.This Deck as a list
WHat next?
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