Create usable writing

Mindy Messenger@messemi

Kristina Halvorson

“Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful,

usable content.”

What is usable content?

Good web writing

• Is like a conversation

• Answers people’s questions

• Lets people “grab and go”

Ginny RedishLetting Go of the Words

Omit needless words

Strunk & WhiteThe Elements of Style

Tip 1:

Strunk & WhiteThe Elements of Style

“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no

unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no

unnecessary parts.”

Steve KrugDon't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“I find I have no trouble getting rid of half the words on most Web pages without

losing anything of value.”

Clarity, brevity, and structure apply to all good writing.

Watch for qualifiers• very

• really

• just

• quite

• maybe

• slightly

• a bit

• somewhat

• perhaps

Watch for prepositions

• of

• in

• to

• for

• with

• on

• at

• from

• by

• about

Watch for adverbs• boldly

• cheerfully

• dramatically

• happily

• inquisitively

• politely

• quickly

• rarely

• silently

• warmly

Watch for passive voice

• At dinner, six fish were eaten by the turtle.

• The bike was repaired by Sarah.

• The turtle ate six fish.

• Sarah repaired the bike.

Passive

Active

Make your copy scannable

Tip 2:

–Steve KrugDon't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Steve KrugDon't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Jakob Nielsenhttp://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/

“Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-

shaped pattern.”

This implies

• Visitors don’t often read word by word

• Important info should be first

• Headings, paragraphs, and bullet points should start with key words

We live in a world where good Web content is chunky content.

Chunky checklist

• Use headings and subheadings

• Put important info first

• Shorten sentences and paragraphs

• Use bulleted or numbered lists

Isla McKetta, Mozhttp://moz.com/blog/evaluate-content-quality-the-easy-way

Test readability

Tip 3:

–Steve KrugDon't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Reading ease testsreadability-score.com

Thanks for the text, Hipster Ipsum!http://hipsum.co/

Formulas all the way down

Flesch-Kincaid grade level

Gunning fog index

Automated Readability Index

Cloze test

Cloze test generator: http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.html

Cloze test

Stephen HawkingA Brief History of Time

Write for your responsive theme

Bonus tip:

In a responsive theme, it becomes more important to chunk your content into

shorter paragraphs with headings.

Responsive checklist

• Preview in phone and tablet sizes

• Use compressed images

• Avoid tables

• Make your content chunky

Measure & assess

Tip 4:

–Steve KrugDon't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Know your analytics

And your social metrics

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SharePoint_Dashboard

Measure your content based on metrics you deem important.

Then try something new and measure again.

Understand the rules, then break

them

Tip 5:

Thank you!

Follow up questions welcome:@messemimlm3@uw.edu