The Web Content Style Guide
Posted by chintan | Posted in Web Content | Posted on 22-02-2008
Tagged Under : SEO, Web Content, Web Content Style, Web design, WebPages
Good writing is the exemption rather than the rule on the Web. One motive for this is only that good writing is hard to do. Another is that many of the people who’ve been involved with the Web from the start have been slow to realize that writing is a very big part of what the online experience is about. While the Web has important non-textual uses, most people who use it spend an overwhelming amount of their online time reading words on a page. It’s not an accident that we call them web pages. It follows that quality content—well written, is necessary for the achievement of any website.
As well to excellence content, the design of websites must facilitate finding and reading that content. Web design is about content design. It’s about laying out content so that it can be with no trouble read. It’s about organizing content so that it can be easily navigated and searched. The number-one design principle for the Web is ease. Quality web design should be all about making life easier for the reader to find happy, and then making it easy for them to read that content.
The Web Content Style Guide aims to codify the rules and standards that make for effective web writing. It also aims to give nontechnical guidance to all those involved in designing and running a website, from the chief executive officer to the junior writer. It examines topics from expediency to animations, from fonts to forms, from information architecture to intra nets, from navigation to newsgroups, from search to method guides.
Every entry is written from the viewpoint that a website must get the right happy to the reader as quickly as probable, in the most readable manner. The font’s entry, for example, discusses the font sizes and types that work best on screen. The Web Content Style Guide covers some of the same ground as the off line style and usage guides, but is tailored purposely for online managers, writers, and editors.
Grammar and style issues of particular relevance to the Web that it focuses on include: the key differences between American and British English; how the Web accentuates plagiarism; what sort of dash looks best on screen; the difference between data, content, information, and knowledge; and when and how to date documents. If you are concerned in a website, whether as a manager, designer, writer, or editor, The Web Content Style Guide is essential for you. It is packed with examples, and is written in a clear, short, and friendly manner.
Based on the authors’ 40-plus collective years experience in traditional publishing, and 15 in designing content-rich websites, it is always sensible. It champions best-practices in web content writing and design, and is not scared to kill off a few Internet myths along the way. Like a famous ad for a paint company, The Web Content Style Guide does exactly what it says on the tin.
