(Shelly Cashman Series) Gary B. Shelly, H. Albert Napier, Ollie N. Rivers-Web design_ introductory concepts and techniques -Cengage Learning (2008)

50 Chapter 2 Web Publishing Fundamentals
avoid these types of errors, write the text content for your Web pages in a word processor
first so that you can perform spelling and grammar checks. Proofread your content, and
then ask at least one other person to review it before you add the text to a Web page.
As noted earlier in this chapter, after you publish your Web site, you must keep the
content on your Web pages current. To demonstrate the currency and freshness of your
site’s content, you can add the last updated date to your Web pages. Because visitors
frequently print Web pages, including the last updated date also helps indicate the most
current printout.
DESIGN
TIP
Establish credibility for your Web site by providing accurate, verifiable content.
Show content currency by including the date the content was last updated.
Scannability
Most Web site visitors prefer to quickly scan Web pages for useful information, not
read long passages of on-screen text. Therefore, Web page text should be broken into
small sections with headings, subheadings, and bulleted lists that are written to adequately
but concisely cover the topic. This is called chunked text. For example, consider the
same information presented in Figure 2-10 as dense paragraph text and then as chunked
text. The chunked text is much easier to scan.
Q&A
Is chunked text
appropriate for all
Web page text?
In some situations, a
Web page might contain
lengthy text articles
that are intended
to be printed and
read offline. In these
situations, you should
present the text in
its entirety and not
chunked.
DENSE PARAGRAPH TEXT EXAMPLE
When collecting content for your Web site, confirm
the content’s accuracy using reliable sources. Refer to
respected subject experts, professional organizations,
trade journals, and other resources CHUNKED with a proven TEXT track EXAMPLE
record. Once published, keep the content To ensure on your accurate Web and current Web pages:
site current as information that is not current may be
• Confirm content accuracy with reliable
inaccurate, or be perceived as inaccurate. To demonstrate
currency, indicate the last reviewed date on your
sources
Web pages, even if the content is not revised. • Update published pages frequently
Typographical and spelling errors can • Indicate embarrass last you reviewed date
and challenge your Web site’s credibility.
To ensure
If you
credible
publish
Web pages:
your Web pages with such errors, your visitors might
question how closely you checked your • content Spell and grammar how check content
committed you are to your purpose if you • Ask did at not least take one other person to
the time to avoid these types of errors. To proofread avoid typographical
or spelling errors, write the text content for
content
your Web pages in a word processor and then check the
spelling and grammar. Next, proofread the text carefully.
Finally, ask at least one other person to review the text
before you convert it into a Web page.
Figure 2-10 Chunked text is much easier for readers to scan online than dense paragraph text.