Web Quality in the Age

of Big Content

Presented by Steven Fay

Phone: 301-526-5108

Email: steve.fay@activestandards.com

April 10, 2013

DC Web Women

Prepared for

• What is Big Content?

• What matters on the web (Think of the Destination):

• Content, Visual Design & Information Architecture

• Can they find it? - SEO

• How does it work? - Usability

• Does it work for everyone? - Accessibility

• Tools and Technology

• Exploring sites using technology

Today’s Agenda

WHAT IS BIG CONTENT?

The Age of BIG CONTENT

According to Craig Roth of the Gartner

Group: “Big Content is a term that helps

highlight the subset of Big Data related to

the less-structured side of it. Big Content

isn’t new or different than Big Data; rather it

helps focus on uses of Big Data for

unstructured information for the kind of folks

that think the Library of Congress is filled

with ‘content’, not ‘data.’”

Search 2.0 in the Enterprise: Moving Beyond "Single Shot" Relevancy

Last Updated Feb 2009

By Mark Bennett, New Idea Engineering, Inc. - Volume 3 Number 3 - Spring 2006

BIG CONTENT, DISTRIBUTED PUBLISHING and LOCALIZATION

WCAG 2.0

Usability

Mobile Web

Editorial

Privacy

EU Cookies Laws

SEO

Section 508

Data Protection

Spelling/ Dialect

Site integrity

Social Media

Legal

Code

WHAT MATTERS ON THE WEB

Think of the Destination

WHAT MATTERS ON THE WEB

Think of the Destination

Visual

Design

WHAT MATTERS ON THE WEB

Think of the Destination

Content

WHAT MATTERS ON THE WEB

Think of the Destination

Information

Architecture

WHAT MATTERS ON THE WEB

Think of the Destination

SEO

IMPORTANCE OF SEO

Impact: According to a study conducted by

Optify in December 2010, the top three

natural (unpaid) positions on page one

of Google search results receive 58.4

percent of all user visits, or clicks. For

websites that appear on the second

page, the number drops to only 1.5

percent.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Common Errors:

Underutilized Keywords

Irrelevant Content

Missing or Poor Titles, Tags or Metadata

Slow Download Speeds

Little Time Spent on Sites

Broken Links

Page Duplication

What to Do:

IA, Site Map, Taxonomy

Know your keywords

Fresh Content

Engage Customers

Use Metadata

Optimize Site for Web and Mobile

Create Linking Strategies back to your

content

Clean up site

WHAT MATTERS ON THE WEB

Think of the Destination

Usability

IMPORTANCE OF USABILITY

People are able to find the information

they seek on a website only 40% of the

time.

The other 60% leave the website

unsatisfied. Research by User Interface Engineering, Inc.

SATISFIED

USERS

UNSATISFIED

USERS

Impact: In a highly crowded landscape companies

who deliver a great user experience can

seize competitive advantage. A Forrester

survey of 60 website improvement projects

shows how usability enhancements

translate to clear commercial returns

USABILITY

Common Errors: Too Much Content per Page

Difficult Navigation

Redirects

Long Download Times

Broken Links

Inconsistent Structure or Language

Browser or Mobile Compatibility Issues

What to Do: Clean and Simple

Remember it is a web site and not a

term paper (headings and visual)

Use traditional navigation unless you

have non-traditional site

Consistency

Test

Analyze

Optimize for Web and Mobile

Clean up your site

WHAT MATTERS ON THE WEB

Think of the Destination

Accessibility

IMPORTANCE OF ACCESSABILITY

Impact:

On February 7, 2006, Target Corporation

received a lawsuit concerning the

inaccessibility of its web site. NFB and Target

settled the lawsuit on August 27, 2008 for

$6,000,000 plus additional damages and a

stringent ongoing monitoring to ensure

continued accessibility. Since then, Target has

made efforts to make its site accessible to

people who use assistive technologies.

The gray dollar – 1 in 5 mature users (over

61) have sight problems. If your site is not

accessible to all users, potential customers

may go elsewhere!

ACCESSIBILITY

Common Errors:

Not compliant with latest Section 508

or WCAG regulations

Alt Tags, Page Titles and Headers not

populated

Non-descriptive Link Text

Deprecated Tags/Coding

Blinking Images/Text

What to Do: Read up on Section 508 for US and

WCAG - A, AA, AAA guidelines

Always Tag for Accessibility

Test with readers or

Contact a consultant

Factor in budget and time into

redesign plans

COMMON ERRORS ON LIVE SITES

Technology

Usability Prototyping

Web Quality Checkers

Accessibility Tools

Enterprise Governance Platforms

Exploring Sites Using Technology

The Deep Dive