Redish Letting Go of the Words

Writing Web Content that Works
1. Auflage 2007
ISBN: 978-0-08-055538-6
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 384 Seiten

Reihe: Interactive Technologies

"Redish has done her homework and created a thorough overview of the issues in writing for the Web. Ironically, I must recommend that you read her every word so that you can find out why your customers won't read very many words on your website -- and what to do about it.

-- Jakob Nielsen, Principal, Nielsen Norman Group

There are at least twelve billion web pages out there. Twelve billion voices talking, but saying mostly nothing. If just 1% of those pages followed Ginny's practical, clear advice, the world would be a better place. Fortunately, you can follow her advice for 100% of your own site's pages, so pick up a copy of Letting Go of the Words and start communicating effectively today.

--Lou Rosenfeld, co-author, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web

On the web, whether on the job or at home, we usually want to grab information and use it quickly. We go to the web to get answers to questions or to complete tasks - to gather information, reading only what we need. We are all too busy to read much on the web.

This book helps you write successfully for web users. It offers strategy, process, and tactics for creating or revising content for the web. It helps you plan, organize, write, design, and test web content that will make web users come back again and again to your site.

Learn how to create usable and useful content for the web from the master - Ginny Redish. Ginny has taught and mentored hundreds of writers, information designers, and content owners in the principles and secrets of creating web information that is easy to scan, easy to read, and easy to use.

This practical, informative book will help anyone creating web content do it better.

Features
* Clearly-explained guidelines with full color illustrations and examples from actual web sites throughout the book.
* Written in easy-to-read style with many befores and afters.
* Specific guidelines for web-based press releases, legal notices, and other documents.
* Tips on making web content accessible for people with special needs.

Janice (Ginny) Redish has been helping clients and colleagues communicate clearly for more than 20 years. For the past ten years, her focus has been helping people create usable and useful web sites. She is co-author of two classic books on usability: A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (with Joseph Dumas), and User and Task Analysis for Interface Design (with JoAnn Hackos), and is the recipient of many awards.

* Clearly-explained guidelines with full color illustrations and examples from actual
web sites throughout the book.

* Written in easy-to-read style with many befores and afters.

* Specific guidelines for web-based press releases, legal notices, and other documents.

* Tips on making web content accessible for people with special needs."

Autoren/Hrsg.

Redish, Janice (Ginny)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Front Cover;1
2;Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works;4
3;Copyright Page;5
4;Contents;8
5;Foreword;16
6;Acknowledgments;18
7;Chapter 1. Content! Content! Content!;20
7.1;People come to web sites for the content;20
7.2;Web users skim and scan;21
7.3;Web users read, but;21
7.4;They don't read more because;22
7.5;What makes writing for the web work well?;23
7.6;Introducing Letting Go of the Words;25
8;Chapter 2. People! People! People!;30
8.1;We all interpret as we read;30
8.2;Successful writers focus on their audiences;31
8.3;Seven steps to understanding your audiences;31
8.4;1. List your major audiences;31
8.5;2. Gather information about your audiences;32
8.6;3. List major characteristics for each audience;33
8.7;4. Gather your audiences' questions, tasks, and stories;38
8.8;5. Use your information to create personas;38
8.9;6. Include the persona's goals and tasks;43
8.10;7. Use your information to write scenarios for your site;43
9;Chapter 3. Starting Well: Home Pages;48
9.1;Home pages – the 10-minute mini-tour;49
9.2;Identifying the site, establishing the brand;50
9.3;Setting the tone and personality of the site;50
9.4;Helping people get a sense of what the site is all about;54
9.5;Letting people start key tasks immediately;60
9.6;Sending each person on the right way, effectively and efficiently;63
9.7;Putting it all together: A case study;65
9.8;Building your site up from the content – not only down from the home page;69
10;Chapter 4. Getting There: Pathway Pages;72
10.1;Most site visitors are on a hunt – a mission – and the pathway is just to get them there;73
10.2;People don't want to read a lot while hunting;73
10.3;A pathway page is like a table of contents;77
10.4;Sometimes, short descriptions help;78
10.5;Marketing is likely to be ignored on a pathway page 61 The smoothness of the path is more important than the number of clicks (within reason);80
10.6;Marketing is likely to be ignored on a pathway page;80
10.7;The smoothness of the path is more important than the number of clicks (within reason);82
10.8;Many people choose the first option that looks plausible;85
10.9;Many site visitors are landing inside your site;85
11;Chapter 5. Writing Information, Not Documents;88
11.1;Breaking up large documents;88
11.2;Deciding how much to put on one web page;99
11.3;PDF – yes or no?;104
12;Chapter 6. Focusing on Your Essential Messages;112
12.1;Six guidelines for focusing on your essential messages;113
12.2;1. Give people only what they need;113
12.3;2. Cut! Cut! Cut! And cut again!;117
12.4;3. Start with the key point. Write in inverted pyramid style;121
12.5;4. Break down walls of words;126
12.6;5. Market by giving useful information;129
12.7;6. Layer information to help web users;133
13;Chapter 7. Designing Your Web Pages for Easy Use;146
13.1;Fourteen guidelines for helpful design;147
13.2;1. Make the page elements obvious, using patterns and alignment;148
13.3;2. Consider the entire site when planning the design;150
13.4;3. Work with templates;156
13.5;4. Use space effectively. Keep active space in your content;156
13.6;5. Beware of false bottoms;159
13.7;6. Don't let headings float;160
13.8;7. Don't center text;162
13.9;8. Set a sans serif font as the default;163
13.10;9. Think broadly about users and their situations when setting type size ;165
13.11;10. Use a fluid layout with a medium line length as default;168
13.12;11. Don't write in all capitals;169
13.13;12. Don't underline anything but links. Use italics sparingly;170
13.14;13. Provide good contrast between text and background;171
13.15;14. Think about all your site visitors when you choose colors;174
14;Interlude: The New Life of Press Releases;182
14.1;The old – and ongoing – life of a press release;182
14.2;What has changed?;182
14.3;How do people use press releases on the web?;183
14.4;What should we do?;185
14.5;Does it make a difference?;185
14.6;What would the difference look like?;187
15;Chapter 8. Tuning Up Your Sentences;190
15.1;Ten guidelines for tuning up your sentences;191
15.2;1. Talk to your site visitors. Use "you";191
15.3;2. Show that you are a person and that your organization includes people;196
15.4;3. Write in the active voice (most of the time);200
15.5;4. Write simple, short, straightforward sentences;204
15.6;5. Cut unnecessary words;206
15.7;6. Give extra information its own place;207
15.8;7. Keep paragraphs short;210
15.9;8. Start with the context – first things first, second things second;211
15.10;9. Put the action in the verbs, not the nouns;213
15.11;10. Use your web users' words;214
16;Putting it all together;218
17;Chapter 9. Using Lists and Tables;224
17.1;Nine guidelines for writing useful web lists;224
17.2;Six guidelines for creating useful web tables;225
17.3;1. Use lists to make information easy to grab;225
17.4;2. Keep most lists short;226
17.5;3. Format lists to make them work well;228
17.6;4. Match bullets to your site's personality;231
17.7;5. Use numbered lists for instructions;235
17.8;6. Turn paragraphs into steps;237
17.9;7. Give even complex instructions as steps;241
17.10;8. Keep the sentence structure in lists parallel;242
17.11;9. Don't number list items if they are not steps and people might confuse them with steps;243
17.12;10. Use tables when you have numbers to compare;245
17.13;11. Use tables for a series of "if, then" sentences;246
17.14;12. Think about tables as answers to questions;247
17.15;13. Think carefully about what to put in the left column of a table;248
17.16;14. Keep tables simple;249
17.17;15. Format tables on the web so that people focus on the information and not on the lines;250
18;Chapter 10. Breaking Up Your Text with Headings;254
18.1;Good headings help readers in many ways;254
18.2;Thinking about headings also helps writers;255
18.3;Don't just slap headings into old content;257
18.4;Twelve guidelines for writing useful headings;257
18.5;1. Start by outlining your content with headings;258
18.6;2. Ask questions as headings when people come with questions;259
18.7;3. Give statement headings to convey key messages;266
18.8;4. Use action phrase headings for instructions;268
18.9;5. Use noun and noun phrase headings sparingly;269
18.10;6. Put your site visitors' words in the headings;274
18.11;7. Exploit the power of parallelism;274
18.12;8. Don't dive deep; keep to no more than two levels of headings (below the page title);275
18.13;9. Make the heading levels obvious;276
18.14;10. Distinguish headings from text with type size and bold or color;276
18.15;11. Help people jump to the topic they need with same-page links;277
18.16;12. Evaluate! Read the headings to see what you have done;279
19;Interlude: Legal Information Can Be Understandable, Too;282
19.1;Make the information legible;282
19.2;Make sure your legal information prints well;283
19.3;Use site visitors' words in your headings;283
19.4;Avoid technical language;284
19.5;Avoid archaic legal language;285
19.6;Apply all the clear writing techniques to your legal information;287
20;Chapter 11. Using Illustrations Effectively;292
20.1;Illustrations serve different purposes;292
20.2;Nine general guidelines for using illustrations effectively;309
20.3;1. Don't make people wonder what or why;309
20.4;2. Choose an appropriate size;310
20.5;3. Use illustrations to support, not hide, content;311
20.6;4. In pictures of people, show diversity;313
20.7;5. Don't make content look like ads;315
20.8;6. Don't annoy people with blinking, rolling, waving, or wandering text or pictures;315
20.9;7. Use animation where it helps – not just for show;318
20.10;8. Don't make people wait through splash or Flash;319
20.11;9. Make illustrations accessible;323
21;Chapter 12. Writing Meaningful Links;326
21.1;Twelve guidelines for writing meaningful links;327
21.2;1. Don't make new program and product names into links by themselves;327
21.3;2. Rethink document titles and headings that turn into links;329
21.4;3. Think ahead. Match links and page titles;331
21.5;4. Be as explicit as you can in the space you have – and make more space if you need it;333
21.6;5. Use action phrases for action links;334
21.7;6. Use single nouns sparingly; longer, more descriptive links often work better;335
21.8;7. Add a short description if people need it – or rewrite the link;336
21.9;8. Make the link meaningful – not Click here, not just More;337
21.10;9. Coordinate when you have multiple, similar links;341
21.11;10. Don't embed links if you want people to stay with your information;342
21.12;11. If you use bullets with links, make them active, too;345
21.13;12. Make both unvisited and visited links obvious;345
22;Chapter 13. Getting from Draft to Final Web Pages;348
22.1;Think of writing as revising drafts;349
22.2;Review and edit your own work;349
22.3;Ask colleagues and others to read and comment;354
22.4;Put your ego in the drawer – cheerfully;356
22.5;Work with a writing specialist or editor;357
22.6;Make reviews work for you and your web site visitors;358
23;Interlude: Creating an Organic Style Guide;364
23.1;Use a style guide to keep the site consistent;364
23.2;Don't reinvent;366
23.3;Appoint an owner;367
23.4;Make it easy to create, to find, and to use;367
24;Bibliography;368
25;Subject Index;372
26;Index of Web Sites Shown as Examples;382