S W Huang

Website Development

Like any good project, start with the objectives for having a website. Tangible goals are ideal, e.g. to reduce 20% of telephone enquiries. Before embarking on the physical act of developing a website, find out who your target audiences are. I share some guidelines for preparing easy-to-use web content (based on the Usability.gov site by the Web Communications Division in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs):

1. Select only what the audiences need
2. Organise the content logically for the audiences - Break the text into manageable pieces / chunking using short paragraphs, lists, tables, pictures, examples - Use many headings to aid skimming and scanning - Write useful headings e.g. questions, sentences, phrases, action phrases, imperatives - Use the headings as introductory hyperlinks and a group of headings into an introductory list of hyperlinks - Write content visually
3. For website with users who read on the Web and print to read - Layer the information i.e. summarise the information in an easily-accessible Web form and put link to the printable versionOffer a separate printable document i.e. offer a document in HTML and PDF formats

Further notes on Writing Content Visually:

- Use blank space well e.g. fragments, lists, tables, and examples to strike the balance - Cut out words - Keep paragraphs and sentences short - Use fragments e.g. don’t repeat words from the FAQ question in the answer - Use the users’ words and avoid jargon - Use bulleted lists - Use numbered lists for steps in a procedure - Use tables - Give examples - Meet users’ expectations for the way information is displayed e.g. write address on separate lines like an address - Use icons or small pictures to enhance the wordsInclude pictures and other graphics when appropriate

posted by juneH @ 7/17/2006 01:02:00 pm