My thoughts after Jeffrey’s presentation on “Writing the User Interface” at An Event Apart, Boston.

In line with with his recent article “Independent content is the new web app”, Jeffrey Zeldman spoke about the importance of good copy on websites.

It is something I deal with on a day-to-day basis, being surrounded by educators, many of whom are wordsmiths. I am a lot more laissez-faire than most of them - not because my grasp of the language is lacking, but perhaps because I’ve become more accustomed to the ethereal nature of the online medium.

This is not an excuse for using “default” text, as Zeldman is quick to stress. A lot of what we say on the web is filled with jargon. One example cited is the ubiquitous “you must have flash installed and javascript enabled” message many websites have. There is a need to communicate clearly in our line of work as the online medium moves into the mainstream and our audiences compromise of more than just the early-adopting geeks. There is also a need to understand that a well-written piece has a distinctive tone; and this tone, like the design of the site, portrays a persona your audience will come to recognise as you.

Why then do many of us employ decentralised frameworks that allow people from various deparments of the company to publish directly to the corporate website? A myriad of different voices is introduced on to our website and the discordant tone melds us into the shadow, and we forgo the chance to have forged a unique user experience.