UX London presented by Clearleft

15th17th June 2009 Cumberland Hotel, London

Copy Writing and the Web

Day 3 9:00am12:30pm

Quick question: Have you ever been to an atrocious website for a subject that really interests you? Yeah, probably. And you probably forgave the brain-dead structure and dilettantish design. Why? Because the content was interesting/relevant/useful/entertaining.

This is why the Nobel Prize for literature doesn’t go to the designer of the dust jacket. It’s also why content remains the single most important element in most on-line UX projects.

In just three hours, Eric will show you how to create findable, scannable, skim-able, and readable on-line content. This is the stuff that creates understanding, builds trust, and increases conversion rates. Topics include:

  • why writing for the web is different (basic observations and hard facts)
  • navigation (labels, not graphics)
  • shared-reference building (getting folks on the same mental page)
  • descriptions (core content)
  • contextual navigation (locally relevant links)
  • convenience text (alt texts, pop-ups, FAQs, and instructions)
  • information architecture (from a content-provider point-of-view)
  • metadata (machine-readable keywords, titles, and descriptions).

Eric won’t teach you how to un-mix your metaphors (if you’re a lousy writer, this is not the workshop for you). But if you’re already a decent wordsmith, here’s how you can take your talent to the web. And Eric will also kill off a bunch of myths about what works and what doesn’t, and give you the tools needed to enjoy online success.

UX London has finished …for now. Thanks to everyone who attended.