Webupon

In this article I have focused on the identification, organisation and editing of written copy. However, copy is not the only type of content on your website. There are three other types of content worth noting:

Graphics

“A picture says a thousand words” and well chosen imagery can replace paragraphs of text and aid scan-ability. From charts and graphs to photography and illustrations, graphics are a vital component in a site’s content.

Multimedia

With the growth of broadband we are seeing an explosion in multimedia content including video, animation and audio. These can greatly enhance written content and aid comprehension, especially when trying to explain complex ideas or demonstrate unfamiliar products.

Applications

Many websites are now much more than brochure ware sites containing almost desktop-like functionality. Driven by complex coding and extensive databases of information, they are often the “killer content” for many sites.

It is your responsibility to oversee the content in these areas. Before we move on, you need to repeat the steps from in this chapter and apply them to these new types of content:

Action one: Identify content: Work with your development team to ascertain what is achievable within your budget. Can the graphics be sourced or produced? What content is better explained with multimedia? Do you have the data to power the applications you want? Is there the time and expertise to build them?

Action two: Organize content: As you develop your site map, take into account graphical and multimedia elements. Most of all, create “use cases” so that everybody knows how the application based content will operate.

Action three: Edit content: Your graphics, multimedia and applications should be easy to understand, clearly represented and engaging, just like your copy. Work with your team to ensure that these principles are applied to all content.