how chunky do you need to be?: adaptive content strategies for the real world
DESCRIPTION
Okay, we get it. No more blobs. Make things chunky. Separate content from code. But this is easier said than done. Most content professionals work with small budgets or cope with big bureaucracies. We can't move forward on ideals alone. We need practical approaches (and dare we say, compromises) for implementing adaptive content in our day-to-day jobs. Instead of discussing in vain how to build perfect solutions, let's look closely at real-world case studies of people who have made tough calls and tradeoffs to move toward adaptive content in ways that solved actual problems. Adaptive content requires a cultural shift in thinking, and along the way, we need to be able to allow ourselves some tradeoffs. Many situations today cannot realistically support, or even require, the chunkiest solution possible. When could a little WYSIWYG sometimes be a good thing? Is it heresy to allow the errant blob into your content management system for a special use case? As we defend the purity of content, it's also our responsibility as strategists to empower content creators to do their jobs well. Sure, the larger theory is exciting to think about, we'd like to talk more about the things we can actually start doing when we arrive to work the next morning.TRANSCRIPT
How Chunky Do You Need To Be?
AKA, There’s No Perfect Way To Do Adaptive Content, So Let’s All Stop
Beating Ourselves Up About Not Implementing Our Site Like NPR Did.
Hello! SUBTXT Tosca Fasso Content Strategy@toscafasso Christopher Ward Digital Strategy & UX
We’re CMS dorks.
Joy! At the conference.
Score! Adaptive Content.
Image from Adap%ng Ourselves to Adap%ve Content by Karen McGrane (Slide 44)
Make Chunks, not Blobs! HEADER
SUBHEADER ME T ADA T A
IMAGE
HEADER
COPY
EXCERPT
<div><div> <span>EVERYTHING GOES HERE </span> </div></div>
Next week, at work.
separate their content from code.
One does not simply
Not all code is created equal.
Let’s talk about tags, baby.
<p> <div> Syntax Style
<p> <div> Syntax Style
<p> <div> Syntax Style
Gray Area
<p> <div> Syntax Style
<i><strong><br> <font> <h1> <img>
WHAT LEVEL OF CHUNKY… …gives creators control of syntax?
…keeps content adaptive enough?
Ok, so how in the f###
do I use this at work?
Case Study 1 How To Keep Content Adaptive Enough.
What’s a Lullabot?
What they did.
1. Groups, not pages.
From Lullabot
2. Importance, not appearance.
From Lullabot
3. Shortcodes, not code-codes.
From Lullabot
3. Shortcodes, not code-codes.
Radiohead Rains Down on Austin City Limits The progressive rock icons drew almost exclusively from their last three albums: The King of Limbs, In Rainbows & Hail to the Thief, quickly
Radiohead Rains Down on Austin City Limits
We wish we’d done a spread for Radiohead, but these SUBTXT comps for illustraHon only
4. Content editing, not design.
From Lullabot
5. Allow some blobs.
Use Your CMS To Create Guardrails, Not Rules.
Moboom.com!A Truly Adaptive CMS1. Content Sets, Not Pages.
2. Dynamic Content Delivery.
3. Feed Into Existing CMS.
Case Study 2 How To Be An Adaptive Ambassador.
Way to design like it’s 1999.
SUBTXT
The client request: “Fix all the random content
overlaps and differences across our many websites.”
Yes, it seemed like the worst project.
Multiple sites with some shared content.
Dry, overlong copy.
A team who had never heard of adaptive content.
But it was the perfect storm.
An innovative stakeholder.
A developer team ready for a challenge.
An unsexy silo wanting to make a splash.
Adaptive content often starts with convincing
stakeholders.
1. Educate teams. “You can’t excite people if
they don’t know what you’re talking about.”
2. Excite ambitious people. “Who doesn’t want to do portfolio-worthy work?”
3. Use data to convince. “How many users are you alienating by not offering the best mobile content?”
Think Big, Start Small. Find a leader who lives for innovation Find a department who doesn’t get any attention Find a executive sponsor, offer to help them do something bold
1. Separate syntax from style, not content from code.2. Create guardrails, not rules.3. Think big, start small.
Three Chunky Conclusions
How Chunky Do You Need To Be?
How Chunky Do You Need To Be?
How Chunky Do You Need To Be?
How Chunky Do You Need To Be?
Get Started!
ACMS Examples Moboom, Kit (DSC), iAPPS, Lullabot
SUBTXT.US Thank You.
[email protected] [email protected] Link to Slidessubtxt.us/icc