For your site to succeed, arrange the content around the user’s needs. Many novice web designers underestimate the difficulty in designing an effective site structure, especially one that will be appreciated by novice and experienced users.We are trained in childhood to retrieve data in certain ways. For example, in libraries we refer to chronological orders, [...]

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Though the terms Usability and Information Architecture are often understood to be the same thing, this is not true.
Usability This tends to study a person’s ability to do (i.e. use) something, such as reading text on a webpage. Usability is not restricted to the web and is used across many industry sectors. For example, car [...]

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An Information Architect organizes a website so that users have a better online experience. In general, their main responsibilities are to:

Assign tasks to team members. The Information Architect often doubles up as the Project Manager.
Capture the site’s design goals.
Communicate the business objectives, such as the site’s sales targets, audience, and language requirements.
Create access [...]

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Developing web-based multimedia poses a significant challenge for web designers as it requires an in-depth understanding of various aspects of Internet technologies, such as user requirements, hypertext navigation, bandwidth considerations, usability, and browser settings.EMMUS, the European MultiMedia Usability Services, highlight that, “designers often state that guidelines are too general to be useful in their specific [...]

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Keeping content fresh is a major challenge for every web publisher. In addition to managing the technical, business, marketing, administration aspects of the web business, you still have to find time to update your web content on a regular basis. Most experienced content publishers have learnt a few secrets over the years. And for obvious [...]

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The debate about online (digital) versus offline (hardcopy) content rages on.
And for those in the publishing industry it creates a dilemma.
Indeed, anyone trusted with ‘transforming’ his or her company’s source material to the web will probably have chewed their fingernails to the quick when mulling over tricky issues such as:

How [...]

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Writing for the Web requires new a different approach to the writing process. Before you start writing web content, try to understand the basics of information architecture and how navigation systems work. On the web, write in small digestible chucks, which fit into the information hierarchy. To create your hierarchy, outline the website as you [...]

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How do I choose the right Style GuideI’m setting up a Publications Dept. for a Financial Services company. What is the best style guide to encourage the staff to use? Ivan – The benefit of adopting a style guide is that it puts guidelines in place to ensure consistency across all documents that go out [...]

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What guidelines can you offer when interviewing writers?
Ivan – I’ve worked on both sides on the fence in the past, (i.e. interviewed and been interviewed) and picked up a few things in the process. Hopefully, these will be of some help.
How much time should be allotted to complete the test?
I’d suggest one hour. Some [...]

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In Word, the Table of Contents is not displayed.
Instead, I get an error message:
{ TOC\O “2-4″\H \Z \T “HEADING 1,1″}
Ivan – I think the problem is to do with Field Codes, so here’s a few suggestions.
1. In Word, go to Tools > Options > View tab and click off Field Codes (if this is selected) [...]

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I’m often asked to give pointers on working with large docs in Microsoft Word?
Ivan – The main issues with creating long docs in Word tend to involve formatting, styles, graphics, tables, and bullets.
Formatting — cutting/pasting material directly from one file into another is best avoided as this will bring unwanted styles in the target Word [...]

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Age Discrimination in the IT Industry
 
I receive about 20 CVs every month from writers looking to either supplement their income as freelancers or look for new opportunities in the tech writing field.
 
A common thread among many of these letters is from individuals who are finding it increasingly difficult to increase [...]

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Hi Folks,
I’m preparing a report on salary expectations for tech writers and proposal managers for 2006.
A few trends have emerged so far that might be of interet to you:
1. Salaries are holding form for west coast USA full-time staff.
2. Contract rates in the USA (esp. east coast are not growing as fast as 2005) ie [...]

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hi,
Im looking to contact some copywriters in Ireland for a direct mail project we have coming up soon. Pls contact me thru the site at www.klariti.com. Thanks Ivan

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