Comments on: UIEtips: Breaking Up Large Documents for the Web – Part 1 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2009/09/22/uietips-breakingupdocs/ UIE\'s latest insights on the world of design Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:11:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2 By: Daniel Szuc http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2009/09/22/uietips-breakingupdocs/comment-page-1/#comment-148574 Daniel Szuc Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:32:20 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/?p=962#comment-148574 Thanks Ginny for a thoughtful response. rgds, Dan Thanks Ginny for a thoughtful response.

rgds,
Dan

]]> By: Ginny Redish http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2009/09/22/uietips-breakingupdocs/comment-page-1/#comment-148551 Ginny Redish Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:32:41 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/?p=962#comment-148551 Thanks for the comments, Dan and DeWayne. DeWayne: Good luck with your committee. To answer your question, Dan: In my experience, responsibility for web sites varies considerably. The organizations that are doing best on the web do assign that responsibility and have a group in charge. They also have a content strategy, standards, templates, a style guide, and a process for helping people use the standards. In my workshop, I'll talk about why a content strategy is critical and how to get started on one. The responsible group may be a Web group -- separate from but coordinating with other groups such as Marketing, Communications, and the lines of business. In many organizations, the responsible group is Marketing. In others, it is Communications (public relations, news). Both of those placements have pros and cons. Marketing people are customer-focused, but they sometimes haven't yet learned that marketing messages on web sites don't work the same way that they do in direct mail. In my workshop, I'll explain the difference, show examples, and give a case study of how changing the way you market can greatly increase conversion rates. Communications people often have a background in journalism, so they know how to write well. However, they sometimes don't realize that, unless it's a newspaper site, most site visitors don't come to read news about the organization. They come to satisfy their own needs. If news about the organization dominates the home page, site visitors often can't find the pathway to what they need. In some organizations, chaos reigns; content writers throughout the organization can post web pages with no one ensuring standards are met -- if indeed the organization has any web standards. Organizations in content chaos don't have a content strategy. In my workshop, I'll give case studies of how large organizations have moved from chaos like this to a centralized content strategy with the content writers as contributors. Best, Ginny Thanks for the comments, Dan and DeWayne.

DeWayne: Good luck with your committee.

To answer your question, Dan: In my experience, responsibility for web sites varies considerably.

The organizations that are doing best on the web do assign that responsibility and have a group in charge. They also have a content strategy, standards, templates, a style guide, and a process for helping people use the standards. In my workshop, I’ll talk about why a content strategy is critical and how to get started on one.

The responsible group may be a Web group — separate from but coordinating with other groups such as Marketing, Communications, and the lines of business.

In many organizations, the responsible group is Marketing. In others, it is Communications (public relations, news). Both of those placements have pros and cons.

Marketing people are customer-focused, but they sometimes haven’t yet learned that marketing messages on web sites don’t work the same way that they do in direct mail. In my workshop, I’ll explain the difference, show examples, and give a case study of how changing the way you market can greatly increase conversion rates.

Communications people often have a background in journalism, so they know how to write well. However, they sometimes don’t realize that, unless it’s a newspaper site, most site visitors don’t come to read news about the organization. They come to satisfy their own needs. If news about the organization dominates the home page, site visitors often can’t find the pathway to what they need.

In some organizations, chaos reigns; content writers throughout the organization can post web pages with no one ensuring standards are met — if indeed the organization has any web standards. Organizations in content chaos don’t have a content strategy. In my workshop, I’ll give case studies of how large organizations have moved from chaos like this to a centralized content strategy with the content writers as contributors.

Best,
Ginny

]]> By: DeWayne Purdy http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2009/09/22/uietips-breakingupdocs/comment-page-1/#comment-148520 DeWayne Purdy Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:13:06 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/?p=962#comment-148520 Great timely article. I'm in the process of preparing a web site for our accreditation report, which includes 18 chapters and more than 400 pages (in the Word version). I planned to break each chapter into content areas on the web site, but the committee leaders have asked to have each chapter as one long document. While that will make it somewhat easier to drop in and format, it's not the best user experience. I'll be forwarding Ginny's article to the committee leadership. Thanks for the great examples! Great timely article. I’m in the process of preparing a web site for our accreditation report, which includes 18 chapters and more than 400 pages (in the Word version). I planned to break each chapter into content areas on the web site, but the committee leaders have asked to have each chapter as one long document. While that will make it somewhat easier to drop in and format, it’s not the best user experience. I’ll be forwarding Ginny’s article to the committee leadership. Thanks for the great examples!

]]> By: Daniel Szuc http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2009/09/22/uietips-breakingupdocs/comment-page-1/#comment-148513 Daniel Szuc Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:52:30 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/?p=962#comment-148513 Thanks Ginny and enjoyable reading. In your experience who is usually responsible in organisations for maintaining the content and ensuring that standards are applied before its uploaded to the web site? rgds, Dan Thanks Ginny and enjoyable reading.

In your experience who is usually responsible in organisations for maintaining the content and ensuring that standards are applied before its uploaded to the web site?

rgds,
Dan

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