Tag
IA
46 posts with this tag.
Hardcode your footer links in the template
Footer links change once a year, if that. Stop treating them like editable content.
Publish status labels need unambiguous verbs
Draft, pending, and scheduled sound like they mean something—until three people interpret them three different ways.
Your homepage intro paragraph is probably backwards
Most homepages bury the essential information in sentence three. Start with what people came to find out.
Run a content audit before you change your CMS
Migrating platforms without knowing what you have means migrating problems. Audit first, then decide what moves.
Conditional field display breaks your content model
Hiding fields based on other field values creates phantom dependencies that break bulk editing, API calls, and future migrations.
Tag taxonomies fail when you can't explain the difference
If two tags overlap enough that you pause before choosing, you don't have a taxonomy—you have a list of synonyms slowing down your workflow.
Menu labels belong in user vocabulary, not yours
Navigation reflects how your team talks about content, not how users think about finding it. Fix that before you publish.
Disable comments field-by-field, not site-wide
Turning off comments globally wastes the structure you already built. Control it where the content model decides.
Date metadata shapes how users filter your content
Publication dates aren't just timestamps. They determine how people navigate archives, sort results, and decide what's current.
Test your search with what people actually type
Your site search only works if it returns results for the words users choose, not the terms you wish they'd use.
Archive pages need their own navigation rules
Pagination, filters, and sort controls follow different patterns than your main menu. Decide how users move through lists before you template them.
Reusable content blocks need names users recognize
When you create modular content components, label them for the people who'll actually pick them from a dropdown, not for your internal architecture diagram.
Image dimensions belong in your content model
If you're resizing uploaded images on the fly, you've already made decisions about aspect ratio and display context. Codify them before the next upload.
Define your content types before you write content
A content type is a template for similar pages. Decide what fields each type needs before anyone starts filling them in.
Field order is the first draft of your content hierarchy
The sequence you build your CMS fields in trains users where to look first. Don't let alphabetical sorting or feature creep decide that for you.
Decide your URL structure before you create content
Your URL pattern shapes how users navigate, how search engines index, and how you maintain your site. Choose it once, early, and stick to it.
Inline examples belong in help text, not field labels
Field labels identify what users enter. Help text shows them how to format it.
Copy link text from the page it points to
Your link anchor should match the destination page's actual heading or title. Inventing paraphrase just creates friction.
Label your form sections before you add the fields
Form sections with clear labels help users understand what you're asking before they start filling things out. Name the section, then build what goes inside it.
Breadcrumb trails need a consistent depth model
Your breadcrumb navigation only works if you've already decided what counts as a level. Bolt the hierarchy first, then surface it.
Decide which fields are searchable before you build search
Search indexes don't magically know what matters. You decide which fields users can search, and which they can't.
Inline links need surrounding context, not just anchor text
You can't write a useful inline link without writing the sentence around it. The anchor text alone won't carry the meaning.
Subheadings announce content, not curiosity
A subheading that makes readers guess what's next isn't clever — it's friction. Write the summary sentence, then trim it to fit.
Heading hierarchy isn't negotiable typography
Skip an H-level and you've broken the document outline, regardless of how it renders. Screen readers, search crawlers, and accessibility audits all rely on proper nesting.
Write the redirect before you delete the page
Deleting a page without planning the redirect means broken links and lost traffic. Decide where visitors should land before you hit delete.
Content audits start with what you can count
You don't need a spreadsheet with forty columns. Start by counting what's actually there, then decide what matters.
Write button labels that complete the user's sentence
Button text should finish the thought your interface started. If users have to guess what happens next, your label failed.
Tag taxonomy before you tag a single post
Your CMS will let you create tags on the fly. That doesn't mean you should.
Alt text for people who won't see the image
Write descriptions that work when the image doesn't load, not captions that assume it did.
Default sort order is an editorial decision
How you order lists, tables, and archives shapes what users think matters. Set defaults deliberately, not by accident.
Paragraph breaks are structural decisions, not pauses
Most writers treat paragraph breaks like breath marks in sheet music. That's backwards—breaks are load-bearing structure that controls how readers process information.
Footer links are last-resort navigation
If people need your footer to find something critical, your main navigation already failed. Treat footers as cleanup, not strategy.
Version control for content isn't just for developers
Track what changed, when, and why — without learning Git or relying on CMS revision logs that expire.
Consistent terminology beats clever synonyms
Using different words for the same thing doesn't improve your writing. It confuses people and breaks their search attempts.
Content chunks that actually chunk
Breaking content into sections isn't just visual spacing—it's a structural decision that determines whether your page can be scanned, understood, and used.
Link text that survives getting skimmed
Most people never read the sentence around your link. Write anchors that work in isolation or stop pretending accessibility matters.
Navigation labels are interface copy, not branding
Your navigation isn't a place to be clever. It's wayfinding infrastructure that fails the moment someone has to guess what a link does.
Subheadings that actually subdivide
Most subheadings just restate the topic. Good ones show structure, set expectations, and let scanners jump straight to the part they need.
Page titles for people who don't read your nav
A page title needs to work when someone lands there from search, a link, or a bookmark — without any surrounding context. Here's how to write titles that orient people instantly.
Content templates aren't forms to fill in
Templates should guide decisions, not replace them. Here's how to build content templates that actually improve consistency without flattening everything into Mad Libs.
Redirects are documentation your future self will need
Every redirect you set up is a tiny piece of institutional memory. Treat them like the load-bearing infrastructure they are, not cleanup tasks.
Breadcrumbs that actually tell users where they are
Most breadcrumb trails break at the worst moment—when users need orientation. Here's how to build navigation that survives real content sprawl.
Taxonomy before taxonomy: name your buckets once
Most sites drown in overlapping categories because no one sat down first. Define your buckets before you file a single page.
URL structure you can maintain for ten years
Good URL patterns survive redesigns and organizational changes. Plan them with durability, not cleverness.
One H1 per page is not a rule
The single-H1 myth survives because it used to matter and now it's just cargo cult. Current HTML and search care about hierarchy, not counting.
Information architecture before voice
Personality is paint. IA is the load-bearing walls. Paint the walls after they stand.