| Book by Category | |  | Web Development | Home » » Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works (Interactive Technologies) | | | | | | | Description: | | "Redish has done her homework and created a thorough overview of the issues in writing for the Web. Ironically, I must recommend that you read her every word so that you can find out why your customers won't read very many words on your website -- and what to do about it."
-- Jakob Nielsen, Principal, Nielsen Norman Group
"There are at least twelve billion web pages out there. Twelve billion voices talking, but saying mostly nothing. If just 1% of those pages followed Ginny's practical, clear advice, the world would be a better place. Fortunately, you can follow her advice for 100% of your own site's pages, so pick up a copy of Letting Go of the Words and start communicating effectively today."
--Lou Rosenfeld, co-author, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
On the web, whether on the job or at home, we usually want to grab information and use it quickly. We go to the web to get answers to questions or to complete tasks - to gather information, reading only what we need. We are all too busy to read much on the web.
This book helps you write successfully for web users. It offers strategy, process, and tactics for creating or revising content for the web. It helps you plan, organize, write, design, and test web content that will make web users come back again and again to your site.
Learn how to create usable and useful content for the web from the master − Ginny Redish. Ginny has taught and mentored hundreds of writers, information designers, and content owners in the principles and secrets of creating web information that is easy to scan, easy to read, and easy to use.
This practical, informative book will help anyone creating web content do it better.
Features
* Clearly-explained guidelines with full color illustrations and examples from actual web sites throughout the book.
* Written in easy-to-read style with many "befores" and "afters."
* Specific guidelines for web-based press releases, legal notices, and other documents.
* Tips on making web content accessible for people with special needs.
Janice (Ginny) Redish has been helping clients and colleagues communicate clearly for more than 20 years. For the past ten years, her focus has been helping people create usable and useful web sites. She is co-author of two classic books on usability: A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (with Joseph Dumas), and User and Task Analysis for Interface Design (with JoAnn Hackos), and is the recipient of many awards.
* Clearly-explained guidelines with full color illustrations and examples from actual
web sites throughout the book.
* Written in easy-to-read style with many "befores" and "afters."
* Specific guidelines for web-based press releases, legal notices, and other documents.
* Tips on making web content accessible for people with special needs. | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9780123694867
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Janice (Ginny) Redish | | Paperback:
| 384 pages | | Publisher:
| Morgan Kaufmann | | Publication Date:
| June 29, 2007 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0123694868 | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.8 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.8 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 51 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Full of really useful adviceMar 17, 2010
Excellent book for anyone wanting to write content for the web. I've learned heaps from it ... and you realise how logical it is as you read. Well worth the investment. It's helped me enormously.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Just in time for website redesign!Mar 07, 2010
I am the creative specialist for a small nonprofit organization, Just Say YES - YOUTH Equipped to Succeed.
Recently we decided to update our text-heavy and somewhat confusing website (launching in 2011).
This book will ensure that we "let go of the words" !!
I'm also using the ideas in this book when posting to our Facebook page. Social media requires quick,
well-written and engaging stories.
I found this book one day while browsing the hundreds of titles at a local bookstore. I couldn't seem to
decide which one to choose, then this title just jumped off the shelf. It was exactly what I needed.
After thumbing through it for 10 minutes, I knew I had to purchase it. (Amazon of course won out).
Together with Roger C. Parker's One Minute Designer I'm helping my organization write and design
easy-to-read web and print publications.
Thanks Ginny and thanks Amazon!
Danny Jaco
Creative Specialist
Just Say YES - Youth Equipped to Succeed
On Facebook -- "Youth Equipped to Succeed"
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Excellent!Mar 05, 2010
Well written, nice layout, easy to read, a lot of practical ideas, full of real examples. I highly recommend it.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Letting Go of the Words ...Clear and conciseFeb 06, 2010
Clear, concise and very helpful tool in reorganizing the written word for visitors and search alike
6 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Impractical for Business Websites & GoogleJan 30, 2010
If you're concerned with Google ranking or copywriting, you will want to read my feedback on this book. Letting Go of the Words is a terrific book with respect to site structure and usability, but is extremely inadequate in regards to Search Engine Optimization and content that actually sells.
Dr. Redish's experience with web content is largely related to government agencies. In that respect, I couldn't ask for a better book on the basics of site structure and usability. The author presents a solid primer on helping your visitors find the information they seek as easily as possible.
The book, however, largely ignores issues that are important to business websites that wish to rank well on Google and other search engines. As an SEO guru, I was surprised that a book on writing web content completely ignores the fact that Google absolutely loves keyword-rich content. While some web purists believe in designing sites as though search engines never existed, it's impractical to cut short the very content that would ultimately deliver visitors to your site. Government sites will generally rank well by virtue of their number of (quality) inbound links. Business owners aren't looking to simply provide information, they're looking to get traffic and motivate visitors to perform an action (purchase, contact, subscribe). Some of her tips ("don't embed links" - chapter 12) are in opposition to what designers should do to encourage Google to "spider" relevant pages and categorize them better in its results.
If this book teaches you the architectural skills of constructing a physical store that's easy to get around, it does so without mentioning how to encourage walk-ins to buy your products, nor how to get them from the street into your business. Brilliant from a usability standpoint, but often contradictory to what can help sites generate search engine traffic and drive sales.
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