Digital skills for subs ● Print vs digital ● CMS & techy elements ● Online copy editing ● Multimedia overview ● Jobs?
May 18, 2015
Digital skills for subs
● Print vs digital ● CMS & techy elements● Online copy editing● Multimedia overview● Jobs?
Print vs digital
What's the difference between print & digital?
What need did sub-editing fulfil for publishers?
What needs exist now and in the future?
What does an online sub-editor do?
Cathy Relf, Rantingsubs.com:
The boring answer is: they cut copy to fit space, correct spellings and grammar, change copy to fit house style, check facts are correct, write headlines and proofread.
For the web, they also source pictures, write captions and credits, add links and optimise for search engines. Yada yada. More things too, such as poking tardy journos, laying out pages, clarifying meaning, finding missing information and sometimes rejecting articles.
Managing online content • CMS • Content template
Brief Intro to Metadata
● Data about Data
● Data: The content
Metadata: Structure, Context, Meaning
Metadata aimed at
● CMS - to render the article correctly
● Search Engines - to index accurately
● Readers - to contextualise the article
● Organisation - to archive and find
Periodical Journalism handbook - 1985
Human-readable Metadata
Machine-readable Metadata
Machine-readable Metadata
Facebook's Open Graph
Metadata makes Links
Metadata makes Links
Content is also Metadata
How Metadata emerges
Manual
● Title● Description● Categories● Tags / Keywords
Automatic
● Author● Date● Web Address
Basic HTML
● <b>Bold</b> <strong>Bold</strong> ● <i>Italics</i> <em>Italics</em> ● <blockquote>"Indented text."</blockquote>● <ul> <li>Bulletpoint list</li> <ul>● <a href="http://.....">Link text</a>● <a href="mailto:[email protected]">Email</a>
See handout
<p>This is a paragraph of text. <strong>This part is in bold</strong> and <em>this bit is italic</em>. Then there's <a href="http://website.com">a link to another website</a> before the paragraph ends.</p><p>In this paragraph there's a quote which is indented:<blockquote>I'm a quote which is indented</blockquote>The quote is by <a href="mailto:[email protected]">a person</a> and their name is linked to their email address.</p><p>Here is a list:<ul><li>Item 1</li><li>Item 2</li><li>Last item</li></ul></p>
This is a paragraph of text. This part is in bold and this bit is italic. Then there's a link to another website before the paragraph ends.
In this paragraph there's a quote which is indented:
I'm a quote which is indentedThe quote is by a person and their name is linked to their email address.
Here is a list:● Item 1
● Item 2● Last Item
5 tips for online headlines
• Clarity over cleverness• Delivers on its promise• Stands alone• 40-60 characters - frontloaded• Google tools
Which heads/sells work?
5 tips for intros
• Stands alone and delivers• 'Must read more' factor• Frontload the good stuff• 250 characters - intro/metadescription• Alternative keywords
Keywords
fromGoogle's KeywordTool
How to edit body copy - ideas?
1. Break up running copy
• Sections with subheads• Q&A format• List format• Bulletpoints, images, blockquotes • Use shorter paragraphs/sentences
2. Getting the right tone
• Site personality (brand)• Variations across content types • Check the narrative mode• Don't oversub or 'featurise' blogs• Slang, jargon and SEO
3. "SEO the copy!"
What does this mean?
Google SEO starter guide:http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf
SEO best practices webinar:http://www.mstoner.com/blog/marketing-and-branding/seo-best-practices-webinar-recording-now-available/
'The ultimate editor'
"In print media, what matters most is engaging prose. In digital media, what matters most is visibility... The ultimate editor, the filter between you and your reader, is humourless and passionless. An algorithm."
- Antonia Senior in The Guardian
"Search engines are in the business of bringing an audience to their paid advertising customers - they do this by offering a quality search experience."
- Mark Sheehy, M Stoner
SERPs
My quick SEO checklist for editors
• Post useful, engaging, relevant content• Use tools to find keywords• Top keywords in page titles and headlines• Sprinkle don't stuff!• Include relevant slang or jargon• Alternatives & word endings: -ings -es -ed• Go niche to beat the competition• Proper names, nouns and titles in full• Must-click metadescription
4. Edit for easy scanning
• People read in an F shape
Editing for scanning readers
• Head/sell most important• De-waffle start of paragraphs• Subheadings• Pull out/emphasise but avoid underlining• Use links with relevant link text
5. Links - why are they important?
● What the web is built on● People want and expect “linky-ness"● Currency of the web● Link karma● Marketing/networking● Stickiness ● Transparency/trust
Q: When to link?
A:
● Explanation or definition● Context or background ● Attribution of source content● Required by © licence● Navigation to related material● Email links to a contact● Google juice
Links need link text
● Use short, relevant text ● Rewrite 'click here'● For PDF links, add: (PDF)
Subbing in a doc or content template?Underline the link/anchor text http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_text and paste the link next to it – as here – to let the uploader know which words are to form the link. (Remove the underline in the CMS.)
How to create a link
Two ways to turn text into a link in a CMS:
1. Visual editor: highlight text, click chain icon and paste the URL: Ebay
2. HTML editor: write it out in HTML:<a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk">Ebay</a>
5 final tips on body copy
• Widows • Smart quotes • Copyfitting • Call to action• Ask 'Why?'
Styling the copy
Within editing screen of CMS
Bold <b> <strong>Italic <i> <em>Indented quote <blockquote>Section Heading <h3> <h4>Lists <ul><li>
<ol><li>
See HTML cheat sheet.
Styling the copy
Looked after by the general website styles
● Headlines● Standfirst● Colours● Metadata● Links
Review so far
CMS & content templatesMetadataHTMLHeadlinesIntrosBody copy (structure, tone)SEO LinksStyling copy
In Print
Distances measured in Points
1 point = 1/12 pica = 1/72 inch
12pt type will be exactly 1/6" high on paper
On Screen
Resolution measured in pixels.
21" screen 1920 x 1080
Laptop 1280 x 800
iPad 1024 x 768
Smartphone 480 x 320
1280 x 800 pixels
1024 x 768 pixels
800 x 500 pixels
Type is 11 pixels high
Resize an image - Photoshop
Resize an image - Skitch
Resize an image - Wordpress
Resize an image - online
resizeyourimage.com
shrinkpictures.com
How to resize a YouTube video
Multimedia checklist
● Resize images/video for web use● Use to break up heavy text ● Does multimedia content match the copy?● Check copyright permissions/credits● If audio/video is main story, include a
transcription or summary of content for accessibility and good SEO practice
● Accessibility check - alt text on all images- beware visual-based instructions
More on accessibility
● Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
● Yahoo! Style Guide on gauging accessibility
● Fangs tool on Firefox browser
● Slideshow about accessible content
Pressing publish & final checks
• Beware sub's notes – Oh you dummy!• What exactly happens when you publish?• Cross-platform checks• Errors: amend, strike through or update note
Post-publishing tasks
• Social media work and social bookmarking• Monitor and respond to comments• Analytics and iterative editing
Contact details
Twitter@fionacullinan @peteashton
Blog / Website fionacullinan.com peteashton.com
Content strategist Scott Abel: http://thecontentwrangler.com/