Content Best Practices
The content of your website is the reason your users are coming to your site. Making sure your content is useful, easy to digest and easy to find means all the difference. Follow these best practices as you create your content to provide your users with the best experience possible.
What is content?
Content in this context refers to the copy (text) on your site. However, more broadly speaking, content can also refer to images, charts, graphics, documents and other assets.
Writing Content for the Web
Use progressive disclosure
Progressive disclosure is a technique of displaying information in logical stages, or "chunks" rather than all at once. Information is introduced in broad topics that become more specific or granular the deeper you go.
In terms of navigation, progressive disclosure means "drilling down" by clicking on sequential navigation items to obtain the information needed. For example:
- Biology > Undergraduate Degrees > Bachelor of Science > Microbiology
- Human Resources > Benefits > Health Insurance > Dental Coverage
- Dining Services > Dining Locations > Skibo Cafe > Menu
The same rules of progressive disclosure apply to the rest of your content. This method of presenting content gives your audience the opportunity to scan a page first and then make decisions about what to read before they delve into more detail.
Be thorough
- Concentrate on one theme per page, one topic per subheading and one main idea per paragraph.
- Include frequent uses of subheadings (h2s, h3s, etc) to group topics together, and allow users to quickly find information on pages.
- Keep paragraphs short. Less than five sentences is a good guidline. Topics can have multiple paragraphs, but paragraphs should remain short for readability.
- Try to answer as many questions on a page as someone may ask, and be as thorough and helpful as possible.
Use descriptive headings, styles and information
- "Chunking" content allows users to scan pages for headings and subheadings when looking for specific content.
- Use headings to accuratley describe the content that follows.
- Use search-friendly keywords in headings and subheadings.
- Use images to help break up content and reinforce text.
- Use bulleted lists and tables to make information easier to digest.
Make your pages freestanding
Don't assume that a user moves through the website sequentially by beginning with the home page and following the order of your navigation; users can enter a website from any page and jump around. Create content for each page that is independent from content on the rest of the website.
Rememeber to add links to other, related pages within the body of each page. Don't assume users will navigate from one page to another using only the menu and side navigation.
Link Best Practices
Link relevant text
Linked text should be relevant and meaningful. Don't link words like "click here" or "visit this page." This is important for accessibility, readability and search engine optimization (SEO). It's difficult for humans and search robots to determine the context of poor link text.
New window vs. same window
Links taking users away from the CMU domain should open in a new window, while links to pages within your site as well as the broader CMU domain should open in the same window. Links to documents (ex: PDFs, Word Docs, etc.) should open in a new window as users will typically close a window when they're done viewing a document.
Label document links
Links to documents (PDFs, Word Docs, etc.) that launch applications should be labeled, like: Leadership Organizational Chart [PDF]
Warn users when links require a login
Good example: Staff Information [login required].
Only underline text for links
Always underline links to make them distinguishable from other text. The CMS automatically styles links as underlined. When not using the CMS, if possible, style links with a border-bottom to improve readability, as bottom borders will not intersect with descenders.
Be selective when using anchor links
There may be a practical need for using an anchor link in your content. For example, if you're creating an . As shorter, easily-scannable pages have become preferrable, anchor links are not used as often.