Structure, accessibility, discovery, trust, and maintenance for an editorial website.
Organize for the reader's next question
Start with a few intelligible sections. Give each article a descriptive title and a stable URL, then link it to related pieces where the connection is useful. An archive becomes valuable when a reader can find the next answer without guessing your internal filing system.
On an article page, show the title, author or responsible publisher, date when relevant, body, and a path to related information. Maintain an About page that explains the publication and a straightforward way to flag errors. These details help readers judge what they are reading.
Design for more ways of reading
Use a logical heading order, meaningful link text, readable contrast, keyboard access, and text alternatives for informative images. Test on narrow screens and at increased text size. A beautiful layout that obscures the content does not serve the publication.
The W3C writing accessibility tips offer a useful review of headings, links, instructions, and image descriptions.
Read the page with images hidden. Can a reader still understand it? Scan only its headings. Do they explain the progression? Follow every link by its visible label. Does the destination match the promise?
Help discovery without diluting the work
Write titles that name the subject plainly. Use introductory paragraphs that answer the main question and show the article's scope. Avoid producing many near-duplicate pages for minor keyword variations. Google's people-first content guidance asks publishers to assess whether material is genuinely useful to its intended audience.
Treat publishing as maintenance
Set review dates for pages with changing information. Keep the original publication date separate from a meaningful update date. Check broken links, outdated screenshots, and statements whose context has changed. Archive or redirect obsolete pages deliberately rather than leaving readers with a dead end.
Make this now: launch audit
Five representative pages on phone and desktop • keyboard navigation • heading order • working links • image permissions and alternatives • clear byline/about information • correction contact • a plan for reviewing time-sensitive pieces.
Next guide: Build an edition readers expect ↗