Content Usability 2
- Chicago: Friday, November 7
- Amsterdam: Friday, November 21
John Morkes
Full-Day Tutorial
Higher user expectations and new technologies have created unique challenges for content and usability specialists. Organizations that follow best practices for Web writing will find more success at increasing revenue and decreasing costs.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn about the very latest research and guidelines on content usability, including search engine optimization, content for complex applications and websites, and participatory content such as wikis and blogs.
We’ll also cover special techniques to:
- gauge content usability’s return on investment (ROI)
- define content metrics
- create and evaluate content
- develop content style guides.
As time permits, we’ll review participants’ content examples.
What You’ll Learn
In this session, you’ll learn:
- The latest research and guidelines on content usability
- Content style guidelines that other organizations are using
- How to secure a larger budget for your content efforts
- The best techniques and metrics for evaluating content
- An iterative process for developing content quickly
- Strategies for overcoming common content challenges
Course Outline
- Recent research on content usability
- Findings, recommendations and guidelines
- Content for specific user audiences
- Search engine optimization and content usability—are they at odds?
- Participatory content: wikis, blogs, and other “Web 2.0-ness”
- Content for complex applications and websites
- Eyetracking studies
- Error message usability
- Content for selling
- Online data comparisons
- Web credibility
- Readability
- Mobile devices
- Content usability and ROI
- Data for your arsenal
- Case studies
- Defining metrics for content success
- Content style guides
- Value
- Examples to borrow from
- Creation and enforcement
- Politics
- Web content and the site/product development process
- How content work fits in
- Content and Agile Development
- Case study
- Techniques for evaluating content
- Selecting the right technique
- Focus groups
- Interviews
- Surveys
- Usability tests
- Web analytics
- Other methods
- Challenges for large and small organizations, and strategies for surmounting them
- Budget
- Time
- Staff
- Scale
- Other challenges
- Myths
- Reviews of participants’ content examples (as time permits)
Format
The full-day tutorial includes exercises, Q&A, and discussion throughout.
Handouts
Copies of the presentation slides.
Who Should Attend?
This tutorial is intended for online writers and editors, technical writers and editors, usability specialists, marketing managers, product managers, Web and UI designers, content managers, UI developers, and anyone tasked with writing, editing or managing content for a website, intranet or Web application.
See Also
This course is a companion course to Content Usability 1. To learn the topic in depth, we recommend that you attend
both days, but each is structured to offer a complete single-day experience. If you need only the basics, attend the
first day, or for advanced material, choose the second.
Instructor
John Morkes is co-founder and Principal at Expero Inc., a consulting firm specializing in the definition,
design, and usability of user experiences for complex websites and applications. Morkes’ recent clients include eBay,
Fonts.com, Freescale Semiconductor, Oracle, Sprint Nextel, TiVo, and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Previously, he was the
Director of Human-Computer Interaction at Trilogy Software, where he led efforts to improve the usability of the Nissan
and Ford websites, which Forrester Research rated as the two best consumer sites in the industry. Morkes has worked
as a usability engineer for Sun and HP and as a journalist for Wired and R&D Magazine. He received a Ph.D. from
Stanford University and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He has presented
tutorials at Nielsen Norman Group conferences for the last nine years.
