Recently I have read a lot of books about the state of web content. I have been contributing web content for many years, and I have long advocated that well-structured, clear content is vital to a successful user experience. So I am fascinated to see the sudden surge of interest in content strategy.

It’s about time.

Web sites have long been products of shiny bauble design: Make it pretty and they will come. A site lures you in, but you quickly discover that you cannot find what you’re looking for. Either there’s not enough information, or there’s too much information, but it’s so poorly structured and organized that you give up.

Information architects (IAs) who focus on design over content have long fueled this problem. The best IAs realize the value of the user experience, where design and content are fully integrated. They focus on both aspects. But sometimes the scope and breadth of site requirements place too much responsibility on them. A partnership becomes necessary.

Enter the content strategist.

In this post, I discuss two books that are shaping the body of resources on content strategy. This is not an in-depth review of either book. Both are only around 200 pages long, and I don’t want to give away all of the authors’ secrets. After reading this post, I hope that you will read these excellent resources.

Mired in a swamp of content

For years companies examined their organizational content with the goal of deploying some expensive mega-monster to house it. They hired content management consultants, many of whom were employees of content management system (CMS) vendors. Those consultants analyzed and modeled samples of the content. This practice led to a consistent, similar recommendation:

“Buy our tool.”

Many companies followed the advice, believing that a new CMS was a panacea that would pull them out of the muck. Instead, they ended up with a costly and not-very-effective “solution.” The complexity of the tool overshadowed the organization and effectiveness of the content.

To make matters worse, content often took a back seat to overall site design. Wireframes for site pages focused on shiny baubles and navigation. Other than navbar and menu labels, many areas were simply filled with lorem ipsum. Filler words made sense for creating a design sketch, but they also fostered a mental model that made content the illegitimate stepchild of site design.

We now seem to be waking up to the reality that effective information architecture goes hand in hand with effective content strategy. I’m ecstatic. I have always viewed content as integral to web design.

So who is codifying this new knowledge?

Rescued by the team of Sheffield and Halvorson

Two recent books offer slightly different but useful perspectives on content strategy as a profession:

• The Web Content Strategist’s Bible by Richard Sheffield
• Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson

Both books are a great introduction for budding content strategists who (1) want to know if they have the qualifications for the job, and (2) want a big-picture perspective of what content strategists do.

The Web Content Strategist’s Bible
by Richard Sheffield

Richard Sheffield’s book was the first of the two to be published. His book describes his rise from a sequestered, contract technical writer to a content strategist at IBM. He provides a comprehensive overview of how the content strategist fits in with the rest of the web site development team. He gives examples of content strategy job descriptions and encourages readers not to be discouraged by all of the listed requirements. He says that anyone with “decent” writing and editing skills, a basic understanding of the web, and project management abilities is qualified for the job.

Sheffield defines content strategy as

a repeatable system that defines the entire editorial process for a website development project, from very early tasks such as analyzing and classifying readers to the very last tasks, such as planning for the ongoing content maintenance after the content launches.

The author points out that content strategist is an evolving role, subject to misunderstanding. (Who’s surprised?) Project managers often set “arbitrary time frames” based on a “lack of understanding of editorial processes.” They also do not understand the role of the content strategist.

Sound familiar?

In fact, according to the author, CS professionals are in a position similar to where IAs were in the mid to late nineties. In a section titled Web Content Strategist vs. Information Architect, he asks whether IAs should handle content responsibilities or whether both roles should be required. This question sparks lively debate on the web and in numerous pubs.

Sheffield devotes seven chapters to phases of the content life cycle:

• Discovery: Embark on a fact-finding mission about the organization and its content.
• Analysis: Present your findings and make initial recommendations.
• Design: Work with graphic designers, content creators, and others to create tools and processes (such as templates, a style guide, and a content matrix) that support the remaining project phases.
• Build: Track content development, editing, and approval.
• Maintenance: Establish who will maintain the content, how it will be tracked, and how it will be deployed.
• Translation: Ensure that content meets the requirements for translation, and where necessary, for localization.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Establish keywords, links, and other findability factors.

Chapter 10, What You Need to Know About Web Content Management Systems ensures that you have a basic understanding of how content management systems work. It also arms you with the vocabulary necessary to keep up with—and contribute to—team discussions about the CMS.

Content Strategy for the Web
by Kristina Halvorson

The author of Content Strategy for the Web is the founder and president of Brain Traffic, “a nationally renowned agency specializing in content strategy and writing for the web” (from the back of the book cover). Brain Traffic employees have authored many excellent online articles and resources. See the end of this post for links.

Halvorson defines the purpose of her book as “an introduction to the emerging practice of content strategy.” She disqualifies the book as the be-all, end-all bible of the practice. As she says, “A lot about content strategy is still being figured out.”

Although she acknowledges that content can include many media, Halvorson focuses on text as content because

• “Text is everywhere.” We see mostly text on the web.
• “Text is different.” Once we publish it, it needs continued “care and feeding.”
• And my favorite: “Text is messy as hell.” It’s constantly changing and has many owners.

Before covering the content life cycle, Halvorson provides a section called Learn. The three chapters in this section (Solution, Problem, and Discipline) serve as a content strategy primer. I especially recommend those three chapters for managers, stakeholders, and anyone who is skeptical about adopting a content strategy.

For example, if your company isn’t ready or willing to make the plunge, maybe you can convince key staff to at least read Chapter 1, Solution. Halvorson introduces it as the chapter for those who “only have the time and attention to read one chapter.” Whoever reads it gets enough information to at least start thinking about content strategy and considering a short course of action.

Halvorson presents her ideas and recommendations in the manner of a workshop facilitator. She identifies problems by asking probing questions. She tackles them with solid, often enumerated answers. Like Sheffield, she walks you through her version of the content life cycle, framed in a slightly different way:

• Audit: Understand what you have and get a sense of the scope.
• Analysis: Determine how your content will serve your users and how it will improve your competitive position.
• Strategy: Recommend “how to create, deliver, and govern web content.”
• Workflow: Establish a process to move your content through all necessary channels, including delivery.
• Writing: Elevate your web writers above the level of worker bees by making sure that they are recognized as key team members. Involve them in ongoing content maintenance.
• Delivery: Consider your delivery channels. Do you need a CMS? Do you need social media?
• Measurement: Use web analytics to measure the effectiveness of your content.
• Maintenance: Care for your content using a “well-designed process that continues over time.”
• Paradigm: Write a strong, convincing business case that proves the worth of your content strategy.

The fact that the author once held positions as both a web writer and a copywriter is no surprise, but her perspective as a business owner and consultant informs Content Strategy for the Web. She strongly emphasizes content that “[s]upports a key business objective” and “[s]upports a user (or customer) in completing a task.” She recommends not necessarily imitating your competitors but being aware of what their content conveys.

As part of the the analysis phase, Halvorson recommends that you determine what messages your company hopes to convey to its customers through its web site. You later recommend how those messages can help to develop and shape user-centered content.

So which book is better?

It depends. The two books complement each other. Aspiring or working content strategists will want to read both for the varied but useful perspectives. In fact, in her own Workflow chapter, Halvorson refers to Sheffield’s guidelines for designing content workflow. She refers to his book as “an excellent primer for anyone who is trying to get their organization’s web content under control.”

If you need concrete examples of many deliverables that are required for a content strategy project, start with The Web Content Strategist’s Bible. It provides an example of how you might structure a content audit worksheet. It also includes suggestions for how to construct other project and strategy documents.

If you want your manager or any company stakeholders to read one word on content strategy, I recommend Content Strategy for the Web. While the book certainly speaks to the content strategist, it is also geared to a wider business audience.

Relevant links

• Richard Sheffield’s site
• Brain Traffic site

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I have been out of circulation for a couple of weeks as I have moved my home and office to Alexandria, VA. I’m still living out of boxes and wondering where to find some of my stuff, but at least I’m here and it’s here, wherever it is.

I’m trying to establish the optimal office setup for the new space. It’s a larger space but forces a different arrangement. I may need to hire a feng shui consultant.

To reward ourselves for surviving the move, my partner and I are spending next week with family on the North Carolina coast. I plan to do a lot of reading and relaxing. And I expect to be berated by my family for my choice of reading material. They don’t consider what I read to be conducive to relaxation. I simply like to read non-fiction and technical books. So as I select books to take along, I have considered subjects ranging from sociology to usable design to taxonomy development.

Yes, you read that correctly. I might read about taxonomy development while on vacation.

Even though we donated boxes of books to a local library before moving, the remaining number of books were a major burden. We have many voluminous titles. Yet, as I browse for books that I can conceivably finish while on vacation, I notice that many of the more recent books—especially technical titles—are significantly smaller and more focused on specific aspects of a subject.

For example, note the page counts for the following books. Each count includes the index:

• Donna Spencer’s Card Sorting: 9 x 6 inches and only 162 pages
• Rockley, Manning, and Cooper’s DITA 101: 9 x 6 and only 133 pages
• Richard Sheffield’s Web Content Strategist’s Bible: 8.5 x 5.5 inches and only 209 pages. This book is hardly a “bible” in the sense of the huge, all-inclusive, door-stop-sized tomes from Wiley. Even so, it’s rich with information on content strategy, while many of those other “bibles” have a lot of fluff.

I refer to these smaller, more focused titles as my “juicy little books.” I appreciate their size and the quality of the information. All three are available as downloads (PDF), and DITA 101 is available by print on demand (POD) on Lulu.com.

Another juicy little book is Scriptorium’s classic, Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Content. Authors Sarah O’Keefe and Alan Pringle have updated the book to include information on Web 2.0 and DITA. The recently updated third edition is available as a PDF download from the Scriptorium site or as a POD paperback from various sites. You can also read a great review of the book by Keith Soltys.

I haven’t yet become a Kindle user, but I can envision a day when I use a Kindle or similar device and start recovering some living space. In the meantime, I’ll reclaim more space with my juicy little books.

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This book review was originally published in the May 2008 edition of the STC Technical Communication journal.

Information about the book:
User Interface Design for Mere Mortals
by Eric Butow
2007. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley
ISBN 978-0-321-44773-9

Every technical communication specialist can benefit from having a solid foundation in the principles of usability, user interface (UI) design, and usability testing. Even if the word usability is not in your job title, some aspect of your daily work contributes to the usability of the products that you support. 

Product design and development teams increasingly recognize the value of integrating a usability strategy into their overall processes. They understand that such integration ultimately leads to more satisfied customers. Regardless of your team role, the adoption of a usability strategy requires that you understand how usability practices fit into the big picture. 

You will find no shortage of learning resources on usability research, UI design, and usability testing. As interest in these subjects grows, so does the available library of books and online resources. So if you want to increase your knowledge, where do you start? 

User Interface Design for Mere Mortals is an excellent starting point. Author Eric Butow has written a timely, comprehensive resource that serves as both a usability primer for beginners and a source book for more seasoned professionals. Regardless of your experience, the book grounds you in the history, philosophy, models, processes, and challenges of the usability profession. Butow highlights the major contributions of experts who have shaped the profession, drawing from the works of such authors as Joseph Dumas, Ginny Redish, JoAnn Hackos, Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, Donald Norman, and Carolyn Snyder. 

Butow’s book is not a tool-specific, step-by-step guide to designing interfaces. It examines both desktop GUI and web design from a big-picture perspective, starting with the four design imperatives: ethical, purposeful, pragmatic, and elegant. You set goals for your design and have users test it with such techniques as paper prototyping. 

To reinforce the design process, Butow provides a case study in Chapters 3 through 9. The fictitious company, Mike’s Bikes, originated in Michael Hernandez’s Database Design for Mere Mortals (Addison-Wesley, 2003). Butow’s case scenario revisits Mike’s Bikes after a three-year growth period, when the company wants to redesign its web site to meet its changing customer needs. 

In the first installment of the case study, the author presents one of the biggest challenges that usability professionals face: selling usability to company management. If you’re facing this challenge, you’ll find the chapter “Making the Business Case” a great resource. This chapter explains everything that you need to do to champion your cause, including how to communicate the benefits of good design to company stakeholders, how to identify the goals of both users and stakeholders, and how to calculate the company’s return on investment (ROI). You’ll also learn how to integrate the Usability Engineering Life Cycle (UEL) into your product development cycle. Showing that you have a ready-made process can help you to convince management that usability integration is a necessity. 

Butow underscores the importance of documentation and training materials as the “first line of customer support” (p. 96). He counts technical writers among those professionals who provide a usability service, stating that “most technical writers are passionate about making printed or online documentation as easy to read and use as possible” (p. 48). The section “Good Documentation Design” in Chapter 4 provides a useful overview of the documentation planning and development cycle. 

A recurring theme throughout the book is that satisfied users (customers) are the main determining factor of successful UI design. Chapters 5 and 6 focus particularly on users. 

Chapter 5, “How Users Behave,” explores the psychology of users and user actions. This chapter categorizes users by psychological type, deriving its categories from sources such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the four primary temperaments first established by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates and later extended by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg: methodical, spontaneous, humanistic, and competitive. A central idea is how users form a conceptual model on the basis of “life experiences, beliefs, and other methods that [they have] built up over the years” (p. 127). They use this model to guide them when trying to perform a task. 

The chapter “Analyzing Your Users” continues with the focus on users and user goals. Here, Butow emphasizes the Goal-Directed Design Process of Cooper and Reimann, which follows a five-phase process: research, modeling, requirements, framework, and refinement. The modeling phase is the point at which the design team creates its user models, or personas, on the basis of “groupings of user goals, motivations, and behavioral patterns” (p. 144). The latter half of the chapter emphasizes ways to construct and evaluate personas on the basis of careful user analysis. 

User Interface Design for Mere Mortals closes with a comprehensive chapter on interviewing users, conducting usability testing, and presenting testing results. Butow gives you a wealth of advice to get started, again drawing from many established and authoritative resources on usability testing. 

As technical communication specialists, we should all aspire to create an effective user experience, regardless of our role on the product development team. User interface design for mere mortals is a valuable, comprehensive resource for usability practitioners at every level.

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Peter Matthiessen’s 1978 book The Snow Leopard recounts an arduous trek through the Himalayas. The author and zoologist George Schaller hope to catch a glimpse of the rare and elusive snow leopard. Although they see many signs of the animal’s presence, they never actually see a leopard. The creature is essentially a metaphor for the elusiveness of human understanding.

Chasing technology trends certainly doesn’t equate with the lofty nature of Matthiessen’s quest, but it’s a similarly elusive pursuit. My obsession with technology often leaves me feeling simultaneously overwhelmed and utterly fascinated.

Show me a moving target and I’ll chase it.

Technical communication is a natural fit for my insomnia-driven, java-fueled (here I’m referring to the beverage), insatiable nature. There’s always a lot to learn.

And that’s the point of departure for this site.

I highly recommend The Snow Leopard. If you like descriptive nature and travel writing, you’ll enjoy the book.