2009/11/20 Alun Rowe <[email protected]> > > If people took everything Jakob said as gospel the web would be a far > duller > place. He's the devils advocate of web development, by offering and > extreme > view he just gets you to evaluate the decisions you have made. >
Fair point. > > I think it's an improvement. I think the SEO thing is a bit of a red > herring and the real benefit is the readability of articles etc. > I'm left wondering exactly WHO the BBC News website is aimed at, in terms of reading ages. Does this change, and other subtle ones like it, slowly remove some people from the BBC News website? > > > On 20/11/2009 12:18, "John O'Donovan" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Thanks Mo, Hi Brian. > > > > We thought long and hard about this, but basically we think it's an > > improvement. > > > > For example, this headline may be short, but what is the article really > > about? > > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7390109.stm > > "Great tits cope well with warming" > > > > > > As an example, I think for this story: > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8369764.stm > > > > "Procter & Gamble recalls 120,000 Vicks nasal sprays" > > > > ...is much clearer than... > > > > "Thousands of Vicks spray recalled" > > > > Especially if you don't know what Vicks is. > > > > > > John O'Donovan > > Chief Technical Architect > > > > BBC Future Media & Technology (Journalism) > > BC3 C1, Broadcast Centre, 201 Wood Lane, London > > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/ > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/ > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/ > > > > > > > > Alun Rowe > Pentangle Internet Limited > 2 Buttermarket > Thame > Oxfordshire > OX9 3EW > Tel: +44 8700 339905 > Fax: +44 8700 339906 > Please direct all support requests to mailto:[email protected] > Pentangle Internet Limited is a limited company registered in England and > Wales. Registered number: 3960918. Registered office: 1 Lauras Close, Great > Staughton, Cambridgeshire PE19 5DP > > > From: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mo McRoberts > > Sent: 20 November 2009 11:57 > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [backstage] BBC News - Googlejuice vs Usability > > > > > > On 20-Nov-2009, at 11:45, Brian Butterworth wrote: > > > >> Here's a nice little dillemma. > >> > >> http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2009/11/changing_headlines.html > >> > >> BBC News headlines go from 33 characters (because of Ceefax) to 66 > >> > >> One the one hand, king of usability Jacob Neilson has said the BBC > > News headlines are the "world's best" > >> > >> http://www.useit.com/alertbox/headlines-bbc.html > >> > >> On the other, Google likes lots of relevant keywords, the higher the > > "reading score" the better in fact. > >> > >> It's not like BBC News comes bottom of any Google search, is it? > >> > >> My question - which is more important, SEO or usability? > > > > Given the context: short headlines on the linking pages, longer > > headlines on the pages themselves, I'd suggest it strikes a good > > balance. > > > > However, I can't stand the short headlines. Everything's phrased as > > though it's a lie. Yes, I know the reasons, it still reads terribly, no > > matter what Neilson reckons. So in fact, I'd actually prefer to see the > > longer headlines all of the time (which does SEO no harm at all). > > > > BBC headlines 'lengthened'. > > > > M. > > > > -- > > mo mcroberts > > http://nevali.net > > iChat: [email protected] Jabber/GTalk: [email protected] Twitter: > > @nevali > > > > Run Leopard or Snow Leopard? Set Quick Look free with DropLook - > > http://labs.jazzio.com/DropLook/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > - > > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, > > please visit > > http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > > Unofficial list archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > > > - > > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. 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To unsubscribe, please > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial list archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > -- Brian Butterworth follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/briantist web: http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002
