Instructional web content: the good and the bad
Instructional web content plays a vital role in guiding users to successfully complete tasks. However, not all instructional content is equal.
Search by category: content
Guides, news, etc relating to web content.
Updating people pages
All of our academic Schools websites have a number of web pages that display people profile information. These web pages are automatically generated by combining data from multiple sources and applying a standard layout.
Improving the University’s course pages
With over 200 courses available, prospective students, parents and teachers come to our website to find out what St Andrews has to offer.
Phrases to avoid on the web
During my time as a web content editor at St Andrews, I have picked up on certain phrases that are used frequently on our website that should actually be avoided where possible. These phrases are often unnecessary or…
How do you write for different audiences?
When a website only has one audience, it is easy to understand and cater for user needs. More often than not, though, websites have multiple audiences, and you need to communicate very similar information in different…
House style updates
We periodically review the University’s house style to make sure that it continues to meet user needs and best practice. Recently, we made a few changes to clarify some of the entries and to bring us more in line with…
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.
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…
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…
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…