51 Back to basics

I disagree with the author on quite a few points. Web is not a book and shouldn’t contain walls of text in flowery English. What she calls anorexic, I call concise and concise is good: Back to basics writing for web

posted at 09:40 pm on July 8, 2008 by František Malina

52 Inspiring stuff

Reading this article is like a breath of fresh air. However, after all of Amber’s persuasive arguments for informative ALT text, I did find it amusing that the image for the ALA article – an illustration of a syringe and a feather – was given the somewhat useless tag: “Reviving Anorexic Web Writing”. Doh!

posted at 01:18 pm on August 28, 2008 by Joe Goodden

53 Only true in context

The extent to which this article is true depends on the aims and objectives of the website and audience.

An oft quoted measure of a good website is how effectively people can complete the task they came to do. If I visit a news site or am doing research then, yes, I want to read engaging, well written content.

If I am visiting a transport website and want to work out what sort of discount I can get, how I buy my ticket, find out about travel disruption, then I want scannable, concise, content.

User testing still shows that users scan content and will leave a page / site very quickly if they can’t find what they’re looking for.

How content is written must be driven by what / who we’re writing for.

posted at 07:34 am on September 16, 2010 by Bebsy75

54 Excellent article!

As a web content startup owner, I could not agree more. Wonderful article that covers many important points!

posted at 07:39 pm on May 12, 2011 by Jennifer Kirkland

55 Possible to build content around the design?

Hmmm, the only way I can see this being answered is if you reverse the question – can you build content based on the design? I would say yes…and no! Yes, because a quirky design may dictate quirky content, but a more serious, business like design might influence more business like writing style. I would veer more towards no, though, because it design shouldn’t dictate content. You read content, content is information, content is what someone has come to a site for. And therefore, I think you are right – content before design!

posted at 10:15 am on January 10, 2012 by The Beatles Albums