For as long as we have been developing websites we have been extolling the importance of the content when developing a website, yet still it is consistently treated as an ’after thought’!
3 years ago we published a discussion document explaining the importance of content together with a suggested approach to take if creating your own - "Content - King of the Web" which we've re-published for download here. Three years on and the importance of content is even more relevant – the number of sites has increased as has user expectation.
One of the key improvements that well written content brings is a considerable increase in usability. In a study carried out by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen and published on useit.com, it was found that by writing content in a concise, easy to scan and objective style, overall usability was improved by 124%.
One element we didn't discuss specifically then was that of forms. With 'self service' becoming even more important today, the formatting (in it's broadest sense) of forms has never been more critical and could (and probably should) be the subject of a discussion document of its own. In a nutshell these are:
- Tell the user any information they will need, and may not have to hand, prior to starting the process
- Give an estimate of how long it will take to complete
- Split long forms into multiple parts
- Insure that users know where in the completion process they are
- Provide the user a consolidated review facility prior to submission
- For important forms confirm receipt and the information submitted by email
I feel no shame in repeating key messages from that original document as it is even more important today: “If your site does not make it easy for visitors to find the up to date information, product or service that they are looking for, then you risk them simply not bothering and going elsewhere, remember your competitors are only a mouse click away!”