Words, words, words
Writing has always been the beating heart of online user experience. It is also the single aspect of creating online user experience that designers and developers almost never study, discuss, or consider when tasked with creating a website—except perhaps to ask when the copy will be ready.
The exceptions to this rule are almost always the people who, in one way or another, move the medium forward.
Those who place a premium on the “content” of sites they build most often see those sites succeed. Those who value and practice good writing become the bloggers people read, the editors of magazines with healthy page views, and the creators of communities to which others flock. And those who consider clear and brand-appropriate writing an essential part of the interface design process create the Flickrs and Basecamps we love and business people respect. (Sorry to always cite those examples, but, hey.)
Long lost to the mists of time, the first issue of A List Apart declared its allegiance to writers as well as designers and coders, and sought to present the art and business of website creation as a holistic enterprise in which words matter as much as anything. And from time to time over the years, we’ve refocused the magazine on writing—whether it’s writing the user interface or cleaning up uninspired, client-supplied copy. Perhaps we have not done enough to support writing or to include writers in the virtual conference room. But we’re working on it.
Presenting Issue No. 242 of A List Apart for people who create websites:
- Better Writing Through Design
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by BRONWYN JONES
How is it that the very foundation of the web, written text, has taken a strategic back seat to design? Bronwyn Jones argues that great web design is not possible without the design of words.
- Reviving Anorexic Web Writing
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by AMBER SIMMONS
Intelligent web content is the literature of our time. Amber Simmons argues that conventional approaches have starved the life out of web writing.
Tags: writing, writing the user interface, webdesign, alistapart
Filed under: A List Apart, Design, Publishing, writing
As an interaction designer I’m fully aware that the content needs to be valuable and understandable for people to bother with my fine navigation and interaction. That’s why I always try to be involved with the content, making sure that it’s appropriate for the target audience and their goals and context. It’s the entire UX that matters. Style, tone-of-voice, etc, is a different issue. I gladly leave that to professional writers.
98% of the sites I design run on a CMS, which clients sign up for because it gives them total control over their content. But we never been able to get a client to deliver content for the system prior to the design phase – they always want to populate after the design has been approved & implemented.
It’s maddening. I NEVER have content to work with. I’ve tried to get as much as many ideas and phrases as possible out of the client beforehand, but it’s just not the same. I don’t feel like I can truly offer the best design and experience.
You know the problem with CMS systems? They work. Just because you have the ability to produce content doesn’t mean you should. Words are very powerful and shouldn’t be taken for granted. We have built out whole framework of Persuasion Architecture as planning what words different personas need in order to have an amazing experience. Words make up the essence of most of the online experience.
Simply, without words (ASCII, someone remember?) computer, websites and people don’t exist: if you can’t use words wisely, you can’t think, you can’t write , you can’t code and sure you can’t sell. It seems a paradox, but the more multimedia arises the more important the words are, beacuse they make the connections that a single picture or video can’t (at least, not so explicit).
It seems that the zeitgeist is a renewed enthusiasm for words. It is so hard and ultimately frustrating to design container sites with the words poured in at the last minute.
Let’s hear it for the writers, get them writing instead of mucking about with feature requests, site maps and all the other sundry site admin tasks – which ironically become easier when you have a body of good writing already to go.
I had in an interview last week with an ad agency looking for freelance web designers. When they asked me about my “method” I spoke of designing around the content of the site, and not vice versa… that the content should drive the design.
I’m not sure if they heard me or not. Its been my experience that the ad agencies would love to get a bigger piece of the web pie, but that they don’t really understand it. They prefer to make it look flashy, and hope the design drives traffic.
Good articles and I’m kicking myself for not subbing you something similar.
I find that helping clients with their content is a huge part of my practice. Most of my clients are writers, but they can freeze up when writing about themselves. I often end up writing humorous dummy content just to get them going.
Who else has had the client actually publish the humorous dummy content?
Jeffrey, I’ve had clients go live with greeked text on the font page.
Awesome.
Come to think of it, I have, too.
Well, me.
One thing that makes me frustrated is the amount of content “theft”.
Our university pages are constantly being harvested and republished in link farms, and my personal blog has had pages lifted entirely, without attribution.
So, the uni looks like it’s selling resume writing pyramid schemes, and I…well, it just bugs me when stuff I’ve written is swiped, and I don’t get credited. (no pun intended)
Some people I know have made their blogs private because of this, which means less words for the rest of us.
As far as design + content…..*shudders*
Imagine working with 50+ academics, all of who are SMEs in different fields. And they all have to reach agreement on a single site…..
It sorta goes back to the age-old question, doesn’t it?
Does design dictate copy or does copy dictate design?
For many youngsters, you may not remember the pre-Internet days … waaay back when a copywriter worked with an art director in an agency environment …
but, like way back then, the question is still asked.
As a copywriter, I totally agree that content is still King. What good are all the flashy design and navigation elements, if the content is a big snore?
In my business, I work with clients to help them understand how vital their content is. Then, I write it for them.
No B.S. Just good copy.
When design and words work together — it’s almost orchestral, don’t you think? The pace, the tone, the tenor … all follow the words.
Yes, I love words.
I find that helping clients with their content is a huge part of my practice. Most of my clients are writers, but they can freeze up when writing about themselves. I often end up writing humorous dummy content just to get them going.
I’m not sure if they heard me or not. Its been my experience that the ad agencies would love to get a bigger piece of the web pie, but that they don’t really understand it. They prefer to make it look flashy, and hope the design drives traffic
That’s certainly interesting – I think I’ll bookmark A List Apart and check it out. I didn’t know it until accidentally stumbling onto this blog.
I’m a copywriter myself, and am quite stunned by the lack of support when it comes to content on websites – both from clients, and from designers / coders / whoever in the business. Content is probably the most important of all. There’s nothing worse than a wonderfully designed website that makes your eyes pop out and then there’s… a … a… spelling mistake! Or a grammar issue! Not to mention the sheer BORING content, that doesn’t even make sense or leaves you still asking, “What are you selling again?”
A visit to A List Apart shows 139 articles on design, and a dismal 39 for writing. Is this because there is a lack of writers? Or because there’s just not much that can be said? Or because everyone is focused on design? Or that design is just more complicated?
I don’t know… I do find it consistantly interesting that writing is continuously placed on the backburner in so many fields today. Maybe everyone just got jealous that copywriters used to get paid do much (and these days, most don’t get paid very well at all!)
Yes, it seem that content and design do work hand in hand. I have found that improving my copywriting skills and communication ability has helped to enhance my results with clients.
After all a picture paints a thousand words…but most of the time you need to paint a picture with words in less than 1000 words. And as designers, if we like it or not we need to be able to communicate with words…You need to be able to communicate your message with colorful and expressive words that get your message across.
Having a small range of communication is like viewing the world by looking through a straw…you’re bound to bump into something a poke out your eye.