Content Critical and The Web Content Style Guide published in Portuguese
 

Reviews in full

Highly readable book - Harvard Business School
October 09, 2002: "When designing a Web site, many companies put most of their efforts into getting the transaction technology right. But if you don't have good content—focused, compelling articles and information—you're not showing your best face to the potential customer.

"This highly readable book is targeted at anyone who writes, edits, or publishes Web content, be it support materials or marketing copy. You'll find tips on writing and presenting information online, effective navigation design, a guide to technology standards, and how to establish an effective Web development team.

"In the end, high-quality Web content will gain you competitive advantage. "The organization that doesn't understand how to publish content professionally will play a diminishing role in an increasingly information-driven economy," say McGovern and Norton."


The greatest ideas are the most obvious
Bob Benson, TrainingZONE
July 05, 2002: The greatest ideas are the most obvious. Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton have produced a book crammed full of obvious ideas on building great websites.

The authors have hit upon the idea that people come to the Web for one thing - content. Getting the content right is more important than flashy graphics, obscure navigation or groundbreaking technology. And saying 'content is king' is not enough. That's like saying that the product is king, the authors note. Rather, the user of that product - in this case, the reader, must lead the way.

This book lays out sensible guidelines, with current examples, on how this can be achieved. Basic publishing strategies applied to the Internet. Finding out what the reader wants; developing a high-quality editorial process; sound classification procedures; familiar design and navigation. All very obvious. But so obviously lacking on so many websites today.

Some pointers, though. The adherence to directory-based structures for websites, as seen on Yahoo, needs a little development if you are to implement this on a site that has frequently-changing content. Interactivity is barely mentioned. And design is relegated to the back of the book, just as the Web designer is put at the bottom of the Web publishing process by the authors.

But with so many websites driven by technological desire rather than publishing reality, these are relatively unimportant criticisms. As more and more successful print-based publishers get their heads around the new medium, the ideas contained in this book will become the norm. Everyone involved in the Web should read this book; it is Tom Paine's Common Sense for a wired world. Buy it now or watch your empire fall.
Bob Benson, TrainingZONE


Absolutely THE book on creating and managing content online
Nick Usborne, author of Net Words (McGraw-Hill)
May 3, 2002: I can't think of anyone more clearly focused on the issue of good site content than Gerry McGovern, and I found myself nodding in agreement on every page.

For me, it was an important book to read, because, as a copywriter myself, I find the line between 'content' and 'copy' is very hard to discern sometimes. I think it's important for online copywriters to understand the work of content creators, and vice versa.

Best of all, you get the sense with Content Critical that McGovern has a deep, deep knowledge of the subject. And he writes in a way that makes his knowledge accessible to others. Absolutely THE book on creating and managing content online.
Nick Usborne, author of Net Words (McGraw-Hill)


Wonderfully straightforward book
Jonathan Price, author of Hot Text: Web Writing that Works (New Riders)
April 26, 2002: In this wonderfully straightforward book, Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton show why the success of your business depends, more and more, on getting "the right content to the right person at the right time."

Their book cuts through the dot com hyperbole to show why your content is critical to profit. On the Web, therefore, we are all becoming publishers.

With common sense, good humor, and sharp focus, McGovern and Norton give practical step-by-step advice on creating and managing content. I think you'll laugh out loud, as you mark passages to quote to your boss and your team.
Jonathan Price, author of Hot Text: Web Writing that Works (New Riders)

Well-written, straightforward guide to publishing online
By Rowan Wilson, Knowledge Management Review, Vol 5, Issue 1 March/April 2002
April 4, 2002: Written in a style reminiscent of the noted "new economy" book, The Cluetrain Manifesto, Content Critical takes a no-nonsense approach to the issue of getting people to read what's on the Web. In an age of information overload, McGovern and Norton's core argument is that well-written web content should now be more important than ever – but high tech functionality and cool design seem to be taking precedence over text – the kind that readers want to go back to time and time again.

The authors make the point of referring to people who visit websites as "readers" instead of what they term that "ugly, generic, drug-associated, catch-all, mean-nothing term, 'user.'" The argument is that if you think of the person who visits your website as a reader, then your objectives become clearer.

The book asserts that with the advent of the Web, everyone – from big businessmen to one-man bands – is a publisher. But in reality that doesn't mean that everyone has their eye on high-quality, well-written, reader-focused, compelling content. Content Critical explores what "killer content" actually is, and shows how to create it for yourself.

In knowledge management programs, the Web is fast becoming the medium of choice for content delivery and getting the right content to the right person at the right time.

There is a growing role for editors and writers in the knowledge management space and practically all of the content they need to work on is on the Web. This book explores the theory and practice of producing reader-focused, compelling content and includes practical advice about what it takes to build a professional content-focused website, including classification, navigation, search and content layout. It shows you how to organize a publishing team and how to create a web publishing strategy.

The book aims to help readers:
Discover the skills required to write compelling content on the Web
Understand the rules of publishing content online
Know how to appeal to online readers
Develop an effective Internet communications strategy
Build publishing skills within an organization

As technology books go, this is a well-written (well, given its title, it ought to be!), straightforward guide to publishing online. The term "bible" is now highly over-used in reference to tech books – but if it weren't, that's how I would categorize this book.


Write for web readers, not for your ego
Robin Sherman, American Society of Business Publication Editors
In two books about the Web (Content Critical and The Web Content Style Guide), Gerry McGovern and his co-authors have made the subject as easily understandable as it is disorganized in reality.

Both books offer a multitude of useful tips, tactics and strategies for creating and managing your website along with the foundational concepts. The most important? The “vastly underappreciated” Web is for readers!

This overriding concept certainly is not unlike a business magazine — both must clearly state their mission, organize content and navigation for best use by the readers and incorporate design and layout accordingly.

The authors achieve the same goal in their very easy-to-read, simply well organized books. In Content Critical, subsections quickly provide the right amount of information with useful references, checklists, “what to do’s,” “how-to’s,” and crucial bullet points.

The book explains why “publishing sucks” and why the alternative “sucks 30,000 times more.” It discusses the benefits and costs of content, why the reader is king, the need
for standards, publishing strategies, and proper information architecture, navigation, and design and layout.

In The Web Content Style Guide, the authors focus more deeply on how people read on the Web, and the resultant writing, editing and design issues. But the bulk of the book is a 200-page, A to Z dictionary-like guide that examines important concepts, many in great detail. In doing all this, the authors aim to “codify” standards, especially for the nontechnical among us.
Robin Sherman, American Society of Business Publication Editors


Content Critical will appeal to both beginners and experts
Geert Jan Kraan, Net Professional magazine
April 1, 2002: In Content Critical, you learn about the theory and practice of online publishing in general, and the production of convincing and reader-focused content in particular. The subjects that are discussed vary from the classification, navigation, and layout of content on the one hand, to the formulation and execution of a publication strategy on the other.

For those who aren't familiar with - for example - McGovern's New Thinking newsletter, we like to add that each chapter is amply provided with reality checks, examples, and practical ideas and suggestions.

Although the conceptual is emphasized over the technical in Content Critical, the authors have succeeded in writing a book that will appeal to both beginners and experts.
Geert Jan Kraan, Net Professional magazine


Well structured source of information
Prof. Dr. Tom Ruedebusch, University of Applied Sciences, Germany
March 22, 2002: Content Critical is a well-structured source of information on the aspects that are critical for a successful web presence. Building on an abundance of background information, a lot of very specific advices are given.

The Web Content Style Guide is the perfect reference to complement Content Critical. Both books are recommended reading for my courses on Internet technologies and applications.
Prof. Dr. Tom Ruedebusch, University of Applied Sciences, Germany


Timely and authoritative
Andy Price, Senior Lecturer New Media Studies, University of Teesside
March 14, 2002: "Gerry McGovern has written a timely and authoritative contribution to the world of web development, analysis and practice. His book, Content Critical, gets to the heart of the matter; 'we are all publishers now'.

He examines, unpicks and informs all the key issues in a practical and clear way. So that the newcomer and expert alike is better informed and more able to engage with the real issues of new media publishing.

Gerry's book will act as a heaven sent antidote to the proliferation of so called 'new media' texts that either nibble at the fringes of the cultural and social issues of a 'cyber generation' or fixate on the latest technical nicety that simply contributes to the digital detritus that inflicts us all.

Students and practitioners alike will benefit greatly from Gerry's book and I have made it a core 'must have' text for my undergraduate new media studies courses.
Andy Price, Senior Lecturer New Media Studies, University of Teesside


Content Critical: "Standard text"
Andy Harrison, Content Management Focus magazine
February 27, 2002: Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton are experienced journalists who write unashamedly about text content. They define visitors as ‘readers’, not ‘users’, who come to a web site to read and gather content. If that makes Content Critical old fashioned, it is old fashioned for all the right reasons. It deals with the fundamentals of web site content; its purpose, its design, its creation. Readers of McGovern’s weekly newsletter won’t be surprised by the content, themes or style of the book. It is direct, business-like, sometimes humorous and always well argued.

Is the Book for You? It is aimed at the publisher of web content both great and small, from the project manager needing to inform a team on the intranet to members of a professional publishing team. Or as Content Critical describes itself, ‘If you work for an organisation, and part of your job is to write for that organisation, you should read this book.’

Content Critical is the best non-technical book on the subject of web content that I have come across to date. It is comprehensive and well structured. It demonstrates the authors’ long fascination with the Internet as a publishing medium as well as their advocacy of information architecture as a professional discipline.

That doesn’t mean it is not sometimes annoying. It can be patronising: (‘everything you know about publishing is wrong’), alarmist: (‘in the world of computers the floodgates have been blown from their hinges’), and occasionally prone to preaching. But let’s face it. The evidence out there shows that many of us are not very good at this stuff. We’re still likely to put school-essay quality material on a web site and forget about it.
Content Critical has an important message and presents it according to its own rules and guidelines.

Building the Information Organisation
The book takes the reader through the world of web publishing in all its many forms. There is a strong analogy between the academic ‘publish or perish’ paradigm and the needs of internal and external corporate publishing and the sharing of knowledge. ‘We are life-long learners in a quest to make ourselves more productive, more intelligent, more employable, more valuable. The organisation is an information organisation now.’

The Cost of Content
Content Critical analyses the benefits and costs of content with a model for comparing the cost of content to its reach and value. It is easy to forget when we are surrounded by technological marvels that great content is still difficult and expensive to produce. The proliferation of television channels offering cheap to produce content is clear evidence of that.
The reader is king, not content, in the Content Critical world. We are reminded that the reader is impatient before moving swiftly on to one of McGovern’s pet subjects: standards and metadata. Classify, classify, classify is the mantra here and one I continue to hope is not a case of flogging a dead horse.
The central chapters provide checklists and examples for the principles on which the majority of content rests. Topics include:

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• Augustana College, United States
• Drury University, United States
• Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
• Indiana University, United States
• Monash University, Australia
• University of Applied Sciences, Germany
• University of Regina, Canada
• University of Teesside, UK