Creating Web Content
What to keep in mind when you make new web content
Consider the targeted user’s point of view. What need do they have, and how does this content help them fulfill that need?
Write for the web. Keep your reader engaged and help them find important information by following our tips for writing web content.
Be willing to maintain it. When you create any new web content, you should also be willing to keep it up to date. Web Team can help, but you’re best positioned to know how to update the information you've gathered. Tips for maintaining content:
- Consider how new content you're creating fits into your role's portfolio and workload. Creating content commits you – or another person who may inhabit your role in the future – to maintaining it.
- Try to write content in a way that reduces the amount of maintenance needed. Links to catalog searches, for instance, require far less maintenance than lists of individual resources.
- Set a calendar reminder a year from now to revisit this content. Is it still needed? How should it be updated?
If content is old, we may contact you to remind you to update it. If you feel that you can't invest the time needed for updates, we'll be happy to work with you to archive it prior to unpublishing.
If you’re considering creating a new guide…
Our research guides (anything with /guides/ or /formats/ in the URL) can be excellent resources for our students and researchers. They are also the most challenging kind of content to keep updated!
When should something be a guide?
- The target audience is users with research-based needs
- The content helps users address common problems in doing research in the topical area – rather than just a list of resources
- The content does not already exist elsewhere on our website
- It will be relevant for years -- the challenges the guide addresses are evergreen
What to do and what not to do in a guide
Guides are tools for our users, with the primary purpose of helping them solve problems that they are likely to encounter in the research area covered by the guide. The information in your guides should be selected and framed with that in mind. Here are some specific recommendations:
| Don't... | Instead... | Because... |
| Don't create guides that serve primarily as an inventory or reference list in a subject area. | Instead, use a framing that offers solutions to research problems the reader may have, e.g.:
Do offer step-by-step guidance to working through these research problems, using the Libraries' resources. | Users seek out research guides because they have a research problem that they believe the Libraries' resources can help solve. A well-written guide anticipates common research problems and guides the user to a solution in a scaffolded way. A guide that doesn't provide this guidance won't be used. |
| Don't include lists of subject terms, search terms, resources (by content type or otherwise), etc., unless in service to a specific research problem. | Instead, and only if necessary in the context of "how-to" content, provide appropriate links to database disciplines, pre-scoped catalog searches, etc. Where directly listing selected resources is unavoidable, keep lists short (~3-4 items) using a brief citation-like format; clearly explain why each identified resource is relevant in context; and link to the appropriate online representations (catalog page, database info page, etc.). |
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Don't recapitulate context that exists (or should exist) elsewhere on the website. Don't make a subject-specific version of a general tutorial. For example, don't include a how-to for searching the catalog for resources in the research area covered by your guide. | Instead, provide links to the relevant information elsewhere on the website. For example, link to an existing tutorial on searching the catalog. Do supplement your references to other guides and tutorials with context-specific guidance. If appropriate general information isn't available, consult with the relevant content owner to discuss your need for instructional material. If there are specific search strategies relevant to the research topic, include a summary of those strategies in the context of the guide's broader "how-to" content. | Duplicating the same content in multiple locations on the website creates maintenance and consistency problems. Tutorials need frequent updates, especially when web interfaces change, and even when we make efforts to keep our general instructional materials up to date, it's easy to overlook "miniature" versions of tutorials that may be published in additional locations. General-purpose tutorials also tend to provide more comprehensive instruction than is reasonable to put into a research guide. |
Good example of a guide
The Business Research Guide, maintained by Shaun Bennett. He revisits this guide at least once a year to make substantial updates. He highlights resources and contextualizes them, highlighting how the resources he identifies can help to address the typical tasks a business student/researcher needs to do. He has even done a user research study to ascertain how to organize the guide’s content in a way that makes sense to students.
Alternatives to a guide
Not sure the thing you have in mind should be a guide? There are other options, too!
| Alternative content | When to use it |
| A Google Doc you can share with the user or class | Resources to support a specific assignment, or to share with researchers on an as-needed basis |
| Course Guide content | Gateway to other resources that support a particular course or curriculum. May be highly customized in support of an existing faculty relationship, or designed to stay the same across semesters. |
| Standalone web page | Add more information to a relevant existing page Example: Distance Learning Services New content? Ask Web Team for advice |
Next: Maintaining Web Content