Web Strategy for Everyone
License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
Edition: Web edition 1.0 (2017-09-29)
Title: Web Strategy for Everyone
Author: Marcus Österberg
Publisher: Intranätverk
Before we begin
Why you should read this book
This book introduces what you need to know when working with the Web, no matter your role. My ambition is to make web strategy less mysterious, without relying on difficult words or complex reasoning.
I tackle how to arrange topics and lay out content to make your website more useful, usable, and user-focused, on any device.
With hands-on guidance, you’ll be able to assess and address performance issues and prioritize the work needed to improve your website.
While this is a practical handbook, it does not focus on code or technical matters, but rather concentrates on helping you come to a deep understanding of user-needs and how your website should satisfy visitors. Working through the chapters, you’ll devise your own web strategy to guide your tech, design, and content efforts.
About me
Hi! I’m Marcus Österberg, and since 1998 I’ve worked in all kinds of roles with web as the prefix; web designer, web application developer, web editor-in-chief, web analyst, and web strategist, to name the most memorable. I’ve worked as a consultant, entrepreneur, teacher, and at times, been the client in both the private and public sectors. The Web has powered every phase of my career and I think it’s integral to many roles.
My colleagues and managers have often joked(?) that I should write a gospel about the Web to record my ideas and guidance. This book is that gospel.
Table of Contents
- The Web’s history and future
- Information architecture
- Content choreography
- Architecture using APIs and open data
- Public APIs, open data and the PSI Act
- Background to the European Union’s PSI Act
- Some take issue with the PSI Act – cumbersome access to data
- What then is open data?
- The benefits of an API for a startup business or when building anew
- Design a public API with the developers’ experience in mind
- Friendly terms and a free license
- No surprising the developers with unforeseen breaking changes
- Provide data in the expected format and in suitable bundles
- Error handling and dimensioning of the service
- Provide code samples and showcase success stories
- Promote via data markets and API directories
- What is the quality of data needed?
- Microdata – semantically defined content
- Digital Asset Management (and Adaptive Content)
- URL strategy for dummies
- Web design
- Web performance
- Test your own website
- How to document your test
- 1. SEO
- 1.1 Indexable for search engines
- 1.2 Duplicate content
- 1.3 Page title’s length is under 60 characters
- 1.4 Page title is readable and understandable in the search engine results page
- 1.5 Page title contains relevant keywords that describe the page
- 1.6 Correct headings are used
- 1.7 Search engine friendly URLs
- 1.8 Descriptive text on all important pages
- 1.9 Reasonable number of links
- 1.10 Pictures have alternative texts
- 1.11 Structured description of the information
- 2. Web analytics
- 3. Performance
- 3.1 Reasonable time for loading the page
- 3.2 Compression of text files
- 3.3 Usage of the browser cache
- 3.4 Scripts and style sheets are sent in a compact format
- 3.5 Images are optimized for fast transfer
- 3.6 Reasonable number of background images, scripts and stylesheets
- 3.7 Requesting files and pages that do not exist
- 3.8 Minimal amount of scripts and CSS in page code
- 3.9 Images are not scaled down using CSS or HTML
- 3.10 Identical files are not referenced
- 3.11 Reasonable amount of scripts in the page head
- 3.12 Content networks are used when necessary
- 4. Accessibility and Usability
- 4.1 Website validates the chosen code standard
- 4.2 Using correct header structure
- 4.3 Anchor-texts are descriptive
- 4.4 Link titles not used for non-essential information
- 4.5 Favorite icon is present
- 4.6 Possible to navigate with keyboard
- 4.7 Texts are written to be read by a human – not with exaggerated SEO
- 4.8 Language set in the source code
- 4.9 Not depending on browser features
- 4.10 Specifies image sizes in HTML
- 4.11 Works with and without the www prefix
- 4.12 Only one domain is used for the website
- 4.13 RSS subscriptions can be detected
- 14.4 Useful error pages
- 4.15 No surprises when scrolling
- 4.16 Enough distance between links, buttons, etc.
- 4:17 Acceptable text size
- 4.18 Zoomable, also on mobile
- 4:19 Icons for the website
- 4:20 Useable printouts
- 5. Others
- Tips on in-depth reading
- Sources & references
- Thanks goes out to…