About the Contented blog

Here at Contented.com our aim is to help content writers and their bosses.

Our Diploma in Web Content cuts to the chase. With no mucking around, we show you exactly what to do when writing web or intranet content. With our 10-hour self-study diploma, you're in control, but you do get tested!

We use our blog to consider the news and ramifications of online content. But we constantly provide tips for content authors, and indeed for everyone who writes for work.

We're interested in normalising web content. We like examining the relationships between written and electronic content. Web content isn't unique: the content of books, magazines, radio, film, and TV has parallel issues. What's more, pretty well everything you write at work is now known as content, because it's managed by document management systems and search engines. Web content is deeply entangled with other media: that's the reality. So in our blog we often explore the ways that web content hits all of us, not just a small minority of technically minded people.

Content that makes people happy: that's our goal, whether it's the content of a web site, intranet, book, document management system or something still not developed. You think contented is a modest goal? Well, when it comes to content, ecstasy is rare, frustration is common, but usability is an achievable goal.

Next step is when people using a web site experience all-round satisfaction, even pleasure. When they speed through a task without a hitch, they feel a rosy glow of pride. Everybody wins.

Well judged, well written content makes the site owner happy, with a healthy return on investment. It makes readers happy: they achieve their goal with no hitches in comprehension or action. It makes managers happy, as business processes go more smoothly. It makes writers happy, satisfied with a job well done.

I'm Rachel McAlpine, and I write the Contented blog, with input from Alice Hearnshaw. We'd like our blog to be a forum for content managers, writers, web developers and everyday users of internet technology.