Search by category: content
Plain English for the web
When writing for the web, use plain English to make your content easy to read by all users. Plain English will also help your page rank higher in search engine results.
23 August 2019Accessibility Content
Capitalising job titles: an update to University house style
For those familiar with the University house style, you will know that the digital communications team advises against the unnecessary use of capital letters on web pages. This includes the capitalisation of page titles, team names and job titles.
29 April 2019Content
Common content mistakes – revisited
We’ve previously written about common content mistakes made on the web, but we thought it would be a good idea to provide an updated list. Below is a list of common mistakes our team sees coordinators make on a regular basis. This post isn’t intended to shame, but to cast some light on how you…
12 March 2019Content
Why to avoid marketese on the web
Marketese is a writing style which favours promotional, self-congratulatory and boastful language over technical and objective wording. At the University of St Andrews, we aim to avoid using marketese on the web at all costs.
7 February 2019Content
Featured events criteria
The new events website allows us to highlight five events. On the events homepage, there is a large hero banner to showcase one event, and in the ‘Featured events’ section there are smaller boxes to showcase four events. This post sets out the criteria for these featured events and explains how staff and students can…
7 November 2018Content
What St Andrews web editors do when we’re not writing
This post was inspired by the Scottish Government blog post, What content designers do when they’re not writing. At St Andrews, web content editors create and maintain content on the University’s externally facing website. Our role is to make it as easy as possible for users to find the information they are looking for. While…
19 October 2018Content
Writing long-forms as a team
As you may already know, the digital communications team have recently redeveloped the University’s research webpages. Alongside a new homepage, the research showcase page highlights the range of research taking place at St Andrews. As part of this project, the content team were tasked to create two new research focused long-forms, focusing on coastal erosion…
8 June 2018Content
Showcasing research through content
The main feature of the new research website will be the research showcase section. This section will highlight the world-leading research taking place across St Andrews to internal and external researchers, prospective students, and the general public.
3 May 2018Content
Why duplicating content creates risk
One of the main drivers behind the external website programme is to centralise data for external users which has previously been held across various School websites, blogs, department subpages, etc.
27 February 2018Content
How we promote our long-form stories
Are you familiar with the Stories section on the University website? The digital communications team have been creating long-forms since 2015 with the purpose of showcasing the University’s research, history and student experience. Stories from 2017 have included Breaking bonds and What’s bad about being good? Featuring in a long-form is an excellent opportunity to…
22 November 2017Content Social Media