Content Presentation

Content presentation involves placement, formatting, and quality. Content is the meat and potatoes of

your site – it's reason for being. Presenting it in an effective way is very important.

We'll tackle the issues one at a time:

Professionalism and Quality

– Good grammar, correct spelling, and clear and concise wording is important.

You need to give complete descriptions of things that matter, and you need to get to the point, and not waste

your visitor's time with excess verbiage, superfluous images (or bad images), or sound loops that they cannot

turn off. Quality is hard to define, but when we see it, we know it!

Your entire site needs to present a single message in the content

– whatever the purpose of your

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site is, there should be a feel for that throughout the site.

You need to show some style in your content.

This is another place to display personality. A

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distinctive style helps to set you apart from the masses, and gives it extra panache.

If you are presenting information, you need to have an opinion.

The same old bland info that is

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found elsewhere gives your site no new value. Be distinctive and you'll attract people who have a similar

outlook.

Something unique.

You can do the same thing as someone else, as long as you present it in a way

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that sets it apart. You can sell the same products, but you have to have SOMETHING that helps the

visitor want to buy from you instead of from the dozens of others just like you.

If video or flash animations are needed for your content, make them optional, not required.

About

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half the US alone is still using Dialup, and those elements are painfully slow for them.

Professional content presentation is straightforward, and concise.

It is efficient, and does not

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waste time, and it is self-explanatory.

Placement

– Back in the Page Layout chapter, we discussed putting the most important things above the fold,

and the left upper quadrant as being the Hot Spot on the page – where you put the things they need most.

Beyond that, you need to position your content in a way that makes sense.

Images that go with text should be near the text.

Images should also coordinate with the message of

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the site.

You can use the sidebars for information,

but it should be secondary or “afterthought” information.

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Text boxes and other elements should be arranged in a balanced and pleasing arrangement,

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without chaos. The cluttered look is not fashionable, nor is it functional.

Pages should not be longer than they need to be

– generally three screen heights is a good average

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to aim for – longer pages are ok when necessary for the topic, or when it cannot be easily broken down

into logical segments, but a home page with ads and stuff scrolling down forever is NOT ok! Page length

is, in fact, more of an issue with a home page than with any other pages in the site.

Formatting

– The web has changed the way information is presented. The words are often still the same, but

the way in which the words are displayed has changed. Color, positioning, text size, and font styles are used

more creatively online, and the whole process of reading is much more visually active than it used to be.

Use color to draw attention to the important parts.

You'll want to bold the colored letters if you are

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using them for emphasis, since most colors show up better that way. Make sure the colors coordinate

with your site style.

Use bolding to emphasize single words, single sentences that are key thoughts, or items that are

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most critical.

You can use bolding to direct an impatient person through the page, helping them pick up

the most important points.

Bullet lists, and numbered lists can highlight important groups of thoughts.

This page shows an

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example of using bullet lists to group related concepts together.

Use containers to separate self-contained concepts which need to appear alongside or in

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between other things.

These can be ads, notices, announcements, tech notes, anecdotes, etc. You

can use a subtly different background color for the box, or put a border around it to make it distinctive.

 

Don't use more than about 3-4 colors, and no more than about 3 font sizes per page.

Too much

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and it will look cluttered.

Avoid using flashing or scrolling text, except for SHORT phrases, or a single word.

Scrolling text

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is most appropriately used at the BOTTOM of a page, not the top, and should NEVER be used in

essential slogans, titles, or keyword phrases. Flashing text should only be used as an attention getter for

a SINGLE item on a page, such as a “NEW!” alert, or something similar. It should then be set to flash at

a slower rate so it is not disturbing (this, again, is something that can trigger seizures, and cause thought

pattern disturbances at a very deep level). Most of the time, choosing a color and bolding a phrase can

achieve the same thing with fewer problems.

There are many “right” ways to present content.

The important thing is not looking for the perfect solution,

but in working out a presentation that suits YOUR topic and market. As long as it all works together for your

target market, then it is right.