Developing and Organising Content

To help you develop your website, the Online Media team have created a Developing Your Website document which provides useful information and checklists for writing content and structuring your website.

In addition to the above document, the following information provides further advice on developing and organising content:

Developing Content

When developing the content for your website, it is important to consider the following factors:

Consider How People Use the Web

People use websites in a variety of ways and have different expectations about the content. So, when writing the content for your webpage, keep in mind that:

• users scan webpages for what they want, they do not read everything that comes before it.
• users are impatient.
• users just want to know how to access and use a program/service. They do not care why a program or service is offered.
• users are probably not familiar with the jargon and acronyms that are often used for the names of University schools and programs.

Understand How Websites Work

Before writing your content, it would be beneficial to your website, and its users, to understand how websites work. A website is not like a book or magazine which, once published, can't be changed. It can be constantly updated and therefore should contain information that is current and accurate. Websites also allow for the use of links on pages to jump to other information, so you don't necessarily need to include all the information on one page.

Organising Content

The main things you need to consider when organising the content for your website are:

The user's needs
Information needs, personality of users, visitation pattern, existing knowledge

Your School or Faculty needs
Aims of the website, department objectives

University content guidelines
Format, style, branding

Nature of the content
Text, images, widgets, videos etc.