This list of best practices to the attention of the writer is inspired by web user experience related studies.
Article summary:
Titles
Introductions
The content of articles
The links
Images
1. Securities
1. Provide essential title for each page.
The title will be:
2. Short
Between 4 and 10 words.
Ideally, the title should be on one line.
Eliminate all adjectives, prepositions and adverbs unnecessary.
Article summary:
Titles
Introductions
The content of articles
The links
Images
1. Securities
1. Provide essential title for each page.
The title will be:
2. Short
Between 4 and 10 words.
Ideally, the title should be on one line.
Eliminate all adjectives, prepositions and adverbs unnecessary.
3. Visible
Use a size greater character than the body of the text.
Outlaw italics, underlining or capital letters.
Place the title above the central area of the page.
Tag the <h1> to search engines.
4. Explicit
Use a vocabulary understandable by the audience.
Describe the subject and value of the item (the content in advance).
Cast acronyms and other abbreviations that require a decoder.
5. Catchy
Invite to playing content, provided that they remain clear.
Check if a sentence with a verb does not make it more dynamic way.
Consider the Securities issues.
6. Simple
Avoid rhetorical effects, word games, the exclamatory punctuation, promotional exaggerated emphasis.
7. Containing keywords
Search engines strongly reflect the contents of the securities to index web pages.
Reuse these keywords without exaggeration in the text to strengthen the coherence of the message.
8. Having an autonomous meaning
The title is likely to be taken in an interactive summary. Through a search engine, users can go directly on the page; they should be able to immediately understand the scope.
9. Of which the first words are carriers. The first 11 characters impact the first ocular fixation and Google gives great weight to the first two or three words of the title.
2. Introductions
10. Limit clings to a single paragraph, short. For your hats, we recommend not to exceed 50 words.
11. Use bolding or a different colored background to put the chap highlighted. Never the underlining or italics.
12. Summarize the essential information.
The grip must be read as a "brief".
By itself, it forms the basis of the information. The rest of the article only brings more details.
To help you summarize the info, apply the technique of "5 W" leading to respond to five basic questions asked readers: Who? What? When? Where? Why?. In other words: who is involved? what's new, what's it all about? when that is it the product or when is this going to happen? where? what for?
13. On Target: avoid introducing a subject by a ceremonial welcome text or by precautions. Apply the principle of "inverted pyramid" which means that we start with the basics and then go to the detail and to the shade.
3. The contents of the articles
14. Use paragraphs to cut information.
15. Spend one idea per paragraph, which appear in the first sentence.
16. Use boxes if the content permits: key figures, quotes, resources, etc. The layout and perceived wealth of section will be strengthened.
17. Use headings, especially in long texts. They improve the scanning of the article, revive attention under the waterline and highlight its structure.
18. Limit the length of the page: between 500 and 4000 characters if possible. If your comments require more length, consider the possibility of cutting the contents in mini folder. Note that a long page can be effective if you manage to organize the departure of a summary.
19. Grease the keywords, as we do in the article that you are reading. But do not abuse this technique. It can quickly become cumbersome and chaotic.
20. Use bulleted or numbered lists for your lists. They give relief to the page and improve readability.
21. Write short sentences (15-20 words on average), vocabulary and simple style, concrete, direct, and concise.
22. Write simple sentences:
Between two equivalent expressions, choose the shortest (eg "Save" rather than "except").
Prefer the active voice to passive voice (less complicated and more assertive).
Consider replacing contingent on two sentences.
Avoid phrases accumulating numbers, acronyms, abbreviations, points, kinks and other spins that will hinder reading.
23. Avoid legal jargon, administrative or commercial. Unless you are talking to an audience that research jargon.
24. Refuse acronyms and other abbreviations "no universal", unless they have been explained at the beginning of the text.
25. Adjust the tone to your target and maintain a consistent tone. Do not pass such impersonal tone of your staff.
26. Use absolute time references ("December 2004" rather than "next month") to ensure the sustainability of your content.
27. Avoid spatial cues own paper ("see below", "below", "above", "on page 28"). These benchmarks are foreign to hypertext navigation. For the same reason, do not use footnotes notes.
4. Links
28. Limit the number of links in pages:
September maximum recommended links in a navigation pack.
The links in the body text should remain exceptional.
29. Group the links at the bottom of the articles rather than integrating them into the body of the text, as they are a distraction and an incentive for the digression.
30. Write explicit links, giving a clear idea of what they lead to.
Avoid links like "click here", "next page". Prefer targeted links to too generic links. You will give a better service to users.
31. Prefer links from March to June words, nor too short (making them less visible or not explicit) or too long (which prevents immediate comprehension). Feel free to place the link several words, but never on a whole paragraph.
32. Avoid redundant links within a page, which give access to the same content.
33. Match your links with the title of the target page. On landing on a page, users like to find a close match between the title of the page and the link they are clicking.
34. Place keywords in your links. They will allow a relevant SEO the target page.
35. Your links should be clearly differentiated, especially when they are contiguous. For example, do not mingle a "News" link and a link "News" ... or make them more explicit ... "New on the site" and "Press Releases".
36. Use preferably standard colors (blue for unvisited links and purple for visited links). In all cases, use different colors for visited and unvisited links.
37. Point out the links in the body text. This does not hold true for the links in the navigation interface when the graphic design makes the obvious interactivity.
38. Do not underline the non-interactive text. Even paper, underlining is not recommended letterpress process to highlight the titles or important content elements. Better to play on the font size or fat.
39. Avoid that internal links open in a new window. For external links, there are two schools for you to choose. Large PDF files can be opened in a separate window (which allows the user to more easily interrupt the download if it is too slow).
40. Mention the document format when you aiguille to something other than a simple HTML page: PDF, Word, Excel ... Enter the weight if the file size.
41. Provide an alternative text to the media image and video.
5. Images
42. Assign an alternative text to your images. This is a text equivalent, descriptive and concise. We recommend that you do not exceed 250 characters. The alternative text reinforces your SEO and improves the accessibility of your website, including the visually impaired.
43. Emphasize the images on this website. A computer graphics, a pattern, a photograph taken in real life, are worth a hundred times better than a visual pumped a clichéd image bank at only decorative status.
44. Provide a legend, concise, that gives meaning to the image, whenever possible. The attention on the image rate will be enhanced.
Use a size greater character than the body of the text.
Outlaw italics, underlining or capital letters.
Place the title above the central area of the page.
Tag the <h1> to search engines.
4. Explicit
Use a vocabulary understandable by the audience.
Describe the subject and value of the item (the content in advance).
Cast acronyms and other abbreviations that require a decoder.
5. Catchy
Invite to playing content, provided that they remain clear.
Check if a sentence with a verb does not make it more dynamic way.
Consider the Securities issues.
6. Simple
Avoid rhetorical effects, word games, the exclamatory punctuation, promotional exaggerated emphasis.
7. Containing keywords
Search engines strongly reflect the contents of the securities to index web pages.
Reuse these keywords without exaggeration in the text to strengthen the coherence of the message.
8. Having an autonomous meaning
The title is likely to be taken in an interactive summary. Through a search engine, users can go directly on the page; they should be able to immediately understand the scope.
9. Of which the first words are carriers. The first 11 characters impact the first ocular fixation and Google gives great weight to the first two or three words of the title.
2. Introductions
10. Limit clings to a single paragraph, short. For your hats, we recommend not to exceed 50 words.
11. Use bolding or a different colored background to put the chap highlighted. Never the underlining or italics.
12. Summarize the essential information.
The grip must be read as a "brief".
By itself, it forms the basis of the information. The rest of the article only brings more details.
To help you summarize the info, apply the technique of "5 W" leading to respond to five basic questions asked readers: Who? What? When? Where? Why?. In other words: who is involved? what's new, what's it all about? when that is it the product or when is this going to happen? where? what for?
13. On Target: avoid introducing a subject by a ceremonial welcome text or by precautions. Apply the principle of "inverted pyramid" which means that we start with the basics and then go to the detail and to the shade.
3. The contents of the articles
14. Use paragraphs to cut information.
15. Spend one idea per paragraph, which appear in the first sentence.
16. Use boxes if the content permits: key figures, quotes, resources, etc. The layout and perceived wealth of section will be strengthened.
17. Use headings, especially in long texts. They improve the scanning of the article, revive attention under the waterline and highlight its structure.
18. Limit the length of the page: between 500 and 4000 characters if possible. If your comments require more length, consider the possibility of cutting the contents in mini folder. Note that a long page can be effective if you manage to organize the departure of a summary.
19. Grease the keywords, as we do in the article that you are reading. But do not abuse this technique. It can quickly become cumbersome and chaotic.
20. Use bulleted or numbered lists for your lists. They give relief to the page and improve readability.
21. Write short sentences (15-20 words on average), vocabulary and simple style, concrete, direct, and concise.
22. Write simple sentences:
Between two equivalent expressions, choose the shortest (eg "Save" rather than "except").
Prefer the active voice to passive voice (less complicated and more assertive).
Consider replacing contingent on two sentences.
Avoid phrases accumulating numbers, acronyms, abbreviations, points, kinks and other spins that will hinder reading.
23. Avoid legal jargon, administrative or commercial. Unless you are talking to an audience that research jargon.
24. Refuse acronyms and other abbreviations "no universal", unless they have been explained at the beginning of the text.
25. Adjust the tone to your target and maintain a consistent tone. Do not pass such impersonal tone of your staff.
26. Use absolute time references ("December 2004" rather than "next month") to ensure the sustainability of your content.
27. Avoid spatial cues own paper ("see below", "below", "above", "on page 28"). These benchmarks are foreign to hypertext navigation. For the same reason, do not use footnotes notes.
4. Links
28. Limit the number of links in pages:
September maximum recommended links in a navigation pack.
The links in the body text should remain exceptional.
29. Group the links at the bottom of the articles rather than integrating them into the body of the text, as they are a distraction and an incentive for the digression.
30. Write explicit links, giving a clear idea of what they lead to.
Avoid links like "click here", "next page". Prefer targeted links to too generic links. You will give a better service to users.
31. Prefer links from March to June words, nor too short (making them less visible or not explicit) or too long (which prevents immediate comprehension). Feel free to place the link several words, but never on a whole paragraph.
32. Avoid redundant links within a page, which give access to the same content.
33. Match your links with the title of the target page. On landing on a page, users like to find a close match between the title of the page and the link they are clicking.
34. Place keywords in your links. They will allow a relevant SEO the target page.
35. Your links should be clearly differentiated, especially when they are contiguous. For example, do not mingle a "News" link and a link "News" ... or make them more explicit ... "New on the site" and "Press Releases".
36. Use preferably standard colors (blue for unvisited links and purple for visited links). In all cases, use different colors for visited and unvisited links.
37. Point out the links in the body text. This does not hold true for the links in the navigation interface when the graphic design makes the obvious interactivity.
38. Do not underline the non-interactive text. Even paper, underlining is not recommended letterpress process to highlight the titles or important content elements. Better to play on the font size or fat.
39. Avoid that internal links open in a new window. For external links, there are two schools for you to choose. Large PDF files can be opened in a separate window (which allows the user to more easily interrupt the download if it is too slow).
40. Mention the document format when you aiguille to something other than a simple HTML page: PDF, Word, Excel ... Enter the weight if the file size.
41. Provide an alternative text to the media image and video.
5. Images
42. Assign an alternative text to your images. This is a text equivalent, descriptive and concise. We recommend that you do not exceed 250 characters. The alternative text reinforces your SEO and improves the accessibility of your website, including the visually impaired.
43. Emphasize the images on this website. A computer graphics, a pattern, a photograph taken in real life, are worth a hundred times better than a visual pumped a clichéd image bank at only decorative status.
44. Provide a legend, concise, that gives meaning to the image, whenever possible. The attention on the image rate will be enhanced.