The fruits of my recent efforts have recently gone live with the launch of the NSW government’s Energy Savings Scheme website http://www.ess.nsw.gov.au. Stamford Interactive (user experience experts) asked me to get involved in a site redesign as content partner. We have worked together successfully before, so I was happy to help.
After discussions with the client we decided that my role would be to ‘webify’ (new word) the content. So the client would write to the agreed site map, and then I would reshape it in plain language to make it findable (optimised) in search engines, usable and accessible. I documented everything in a content style guide to help future writers and content managers maintain the rage. http://www.ess.gov.au went live in January 2012.
So you may have heard that the Australian Government has endorsed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). Having done this they now expect that Australian government websites will have the lowest level of compliance (‘A’) by December 2012. And then improve their compliance to AA level by December 2014. This will affect the states and others sometime after this. Sounds like the public sector and their web consultants are going to be busy.
One of the pitfalls of working freelance is that you have to foot your own professional development bill. Which makes you choosey. I chose well lately, when I attended the 4 SyllablesWeb Accessibility for Writers and Editors workshop in Melbourne.
Our instructor Dey Alexander knows her stuff about making content accessible and compliant with WCAG2.0 standards – she waded through the tomes of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0), identified the 6 success criteria that relate to written content on the WWW, and explained them. With notes and examples.
There’s always more you can learn about producing great content. This course was a great way to get on with it.
Did you know that almost 50 per cent of Australians aged 15-74 years have literacy issues (source: ABS Adult literacy and lifeskills survey 2006). Think about them next time you write lengthy passages of text dotted with acronyms and jargon. The recommendation is to write content to a target audience of an year 7-9 high school student.
Make it clear, concise and use plain language. Cut out the long words.
Melbourne has had a week of poetry, a celebration of this somewhat forgotten artform. While some were rushing about seeing what this year's spring frocks looked like, and worrying about interpreting the new season's palette (as part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week), others were gathering around the city waxing lyrical. There's now a handy poetry map of Melbourne, in which the city's spoken word artists and poets plot their progress (and how they felt) in words. And my mate Mik Efford put me onto the annual Melbourne Overload Poetry Festival (as he had built their splendid website). So who discovered their inner poet?
The King James Bible turns 400 this year and, in doing so, provokes scholars, linguists and the faithful to wax lyrical about its importance to knowledge, language and religion. Find out more about The book that changed the world for yourself.
I haven't blogged for a while and thought it might be time to reveal why - the arrival of a small baby boy into our lives in late February has been our biggest project yet.
Difficult to determine our expectations, of uncertain requirements and a flexible launch date - this project has brought immeasurable pleasure and satisfaction to his target audience (a small circle of family and friends).
Love or hate her, Her Majesty the Queen gives a good speech. I have never really listened closely to any of her pronouncements, but her recent Irish State Dinner speech was sincere, acknowledged some tricky topics, and used nice analogies and turns of phrase. Public speaking is an art and a good public speaker is a rare thing. I wonder who penned this lovely speech?
One of the hardest things about freelancing is making the time/$ commitment to pursue some professional development. I have been a fan of the women at Contented.com for some time, and so when the Australian dollar muscled up and achieved parity with its US cousin, I decided to enrol in their Diploma in Web content. In early December I am about 60 per cent of the way through the syllabus and recommend it to those who need to write for the web. Written for a business audience (ie not targeting existing content specialists) it nevertheless is a great refresher and I have learnt some new stuff too.
Two-and-a-bit years’ of work and we have a new website for the National Gallery of Victoria. This comprehensive project included new designs, new technology and content reviews. My role? A bit of everything. This project was a rare joy for a content specialist – the content really was treated as king, and informed, influenced or dictated all aspects of the site.
