Structure of your Content

Content Jump

• In Search of Content
• What can you offer to your readers?
• Some Suggestions

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In this new age of technology, information is presented in more than one form. Just remember one general guideline your research should be from a variety of sources.

Do not just research from only one source. Although it will only take you less than a minute to type in keywords into popular search engines (e.g. google.com, yahoo.com), try to look into books, newspaper articles, or even spend some time interviewing people who specializes in the area of concern. Counter-check with other sources and make sure that the information is updated. You would not want your readers to be frustrated that they are reading something that is no longer relevant.

While researching for content, do take note NOT to plagiarize. Refer to the section on References and Citations for more information.

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It is important to create an environment that your readers will be the most comfortable in. Be it a complicated or a simple design, the structure of your website should allow your readers to find what they need. In other words, they should have the choice of what they want to read. There are two ways to do this:

1. Navigation bars

The navigation bar is essential. It helps people to locate what they want within seconds. Your navigation bar should mirror a hierarchy of importance and task. Prioritize your information – decide on what most people would want to find first.

For example, if you are doing a website on astronomy, your introduction to what astronomy is would be of a higher importance than the Nebulas. Similarly, readers would want to find whatever information available before taking a peep at your team members' introduction.

Make sure your website is well-linked throughout. This way, your readers will not be forced to leave your website at any point.

2. Content jump to subtopics

Provide your readers with content jump at the top of your page, linking to a portion of a page where a subtopic is. This will help save their time scrolling and risking their irritability. Remember though, to include a link back to the top of the page.

A simple content jump would be to use anchors on the page. You might need some HTML knowledge for this. Here is an illustration:

<a href="#third" >Jump to third part</a>
<div id=”first”>First part </div>
<div id=”second”>Second part </div>
<div id=”third”>Third part </div>

By clicking "Jump to third part", the page automatically jumps to show content in the third "div".

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• Offer a print version of the site. It is much more straining for the eyes to read on the screen than read on printed paper. Let your readers have the choice of printing the site out.
• Avoid emphasis by underlining of text. They may look as if they are links to other websites.
• Use bulleted points. Avoid lengthy essays; readers won’t want to read them.
• Paragraph your text and indent them. Each paragraph should not be too long.
• Have a short summary on top of each page to tell your readers what it is about and let them decide if they should read on.