Web content: What is it and why is it important?
Content is probably the single most important element of any web site.
Provide excellent content, and most users will put up with a badly structured and unattractive web site. On the other hand, your site may have cutting edge design, sophisticated structure and flawless programming, but if the content is poor and littered with mistakes it will fail.
‘Web content’ is the ‘stuff’ that makes up a web site. It can be words, pictures, graphic images, sounds, music or video. In this Guide, we are dealing mainly with textual content, so the focus is the written information that the web site provides. This is because most people use the Internet as an information resource, so most web sites are information-based and use text as the main way to present content.
What makes a good web site?
Whatever their subject matter and however radical their design, the most successful web sites all subscribe to one golden rule: ‘Content is king’. This phrase has become an Internet mantra, but there are still plenty of sites ignoring it. Some companies will spend large sums of money on a web site which includes every latest gizmo and gadget, only to lack any meaningful or useful content.
Never force multimedia content on your users. Always provide the option to see it in action or not. They may not be interested in viewing the latest multimedia epic presentation of your services, no matter how much you have spent on it, and may simply wish to read the text instead. Just think how many times you have clicked on the ‘skip intro’ link – which should be provided on all sites offering such presentations.
By following the advice in this Guide, you should be able to build a web site with accessible, engaging, quality content.
Presenting content
When you plan content, think about how people view web pages and connect to the Internet. For example, they may:
- live almost anywhere in the world
- use different connection speeds
- use varying types of technology, such as PC or Mac
- use various forms of browser programs and methods
- speak different languages
- have varying degrees of online 'know-how'
So you should be aware that your
web site may be limited by accessibility and other issues. Address them by
creating a site that is user-friendly and
makes its content as accessible as possible to the wider audience.
Make sure that all users face as few obstacles as possible in the content,
navigation and general functioning of your web site. Aim to achieve simplicity,
which is a basic design principle for web sites. Apply this to content,
design and structure and you will have the basis for a site that is easy
for everyone
to read, navigate and interact with. Making it simple does not stop you
from having an attractive design. It should be an opportunity for you
to be innovative
in your presentation.
Summary
Content is probably the single most important part of any web site.
- Text is the main means of presenting content.
- Never force multimedia content on your users.
- Content must be accessible to the wider audience.
- Aim to achieve simplicity.
