Microcontent: Headlines and Subject Lines (Alertbox)
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Bookmark History
Saved by 33 people (10 private), first by anonymouse user on 2006-06-04
- Loverdos on 2008-05-07 - Tags microcontent , writing
- Tazem0 on 2008-04-20 - Tags Website Development , ! Platforms , WordPress
- Fulvius on 2008-02-11 - Tags no_tag
- Eyalnow on 2007-12-27 - Tags micro-content , usability , web-writing
- Chinyao on 2007-12-25 - Tags email , final year project
Public Sticky notes
Guidelines for Microcontent
- Clearly explain what the article (or email) is about in terms that relate to the user. Microcontent should be an ultra-short abstract of its associated macrocontent.
- Written in plain language: no puns, no "cute" or "clever" headlines.
- No teasers that try to entice people to click to find out what the story is about. Users have been burned too often on the Web to have time to wait for a page to download unless they have clear expectations for what they will get. In print, curiosity can get people to turn the page or start reading an article. Online, it's simply too painful for people to do so.
- Skip leading articles like "the" and "a" in email subjects and page titles (but do include them in headlines that are embedded within a page). Shorter microcontent is more scannable, and since lists are often alphabetized, you don't want your content to be listed under "T" in a confused mess with many other pages starting with "the".
- Make the first word an important, information-carrying one. Results in better position in alphabetized lists and facilitates scanning. For example, start with the name of the company, person, or concept discussed in an article.
- Do not make all page titles start with the same word: they will be hard
to differentiate when scanning a list. Move common markers toward the end
of the line. For example, the title of this page is
Microcontent: Headlines and Subject Lines (Alertbox). - In email sent from your website, make the "From" field clarify the customer relationship and reduce the appearance of spam or anonymous intrusion (but don't use the name of the customer service rep. unless the user has actually established a relationship with that person: mail from unknown people also has a tendency to be deleted and will be harder for users to find in a search).
Highlighted by helaine
Guidelines for Microcontent
Highlighted by injapan
Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines
Highlighted by eyalnow
Microcontent needs to be pearls of clarity: you get
40-60
characters to explain your macrocontent.
Highlighted by fulvius
Microcontent needs to be pearls of clarity: you get
40-60
characters to explain your macrocontent. Unless the
title or subject make it absolutely clear what the page or email is about,
users will never open it.
Highlighted by eyalnow
Even when a headline is displayed together with related content, the
difficulty of reading online and the reduced amount of information that can
be seen in a glance make it harder for users to learn enough from the
surrounding data.
Highlighted by fulvius
on 2008-02-11 by fulvius
Em notícias relacionadas, deve-se sempre que possível colocar o primeiro parágrafo (ou algo do gênero) para ajudar o usuário a ganhar tempo, não clicando a toa. Ou colocar uma miniatura de uma foto que explique o conteúdo.
Because of these differences, the headline text has to stand on its
own and make sense when the rest of the content is not available.
Highlighted by eyalnow
Make the first word an important, information-carrying
one.
Highlighted by fulvius
Guidelines for Microcontent
- Clearly explain what the article (or email) is about in terms that relate to the user. Microcontent should be an ultra-short abstract of its associated macrocontent.
- Written in plain language: no puns, no "cute" or "clever" headlines.
- No teasers that try to entice people to click to find out what the story is about.
Highlighted by eyalnow
Skip leading articles like "the" and "a" in email subjects and page titles (but
do include them in headlines that are embedded within a page)
Highlighted by eyalnow
Make the first word an important, information-carrying
one. Results in better position in
alphabetized lists and facilitates scanning. For example, start with
the name of the company, person, or concept discussed in an article.
Highlighted by eyalnow
Do not make all page titles start with the same word: they will be hard
to differentiate when scanning a list. Move common markers toward the end
of the line.
Highlighted by eyalnow
Public Comment
on 2006-07-15 by jaydugger
on 2007-02-04 by helaine