With so much information being published, so many devices to display it on, and design trends in constant flux, it can be hard to keep your website in good shape. Not only do you need to deliver content and functionality today, but also when the next disruptive technology comes along. How to keep up, let alone get ahead? The answer lies in future-friendly content, which is stored, structured, and connected outside any user interface. A CMS that uses a structured-content approach is necessary to re-use, re-mix, and re-style content for omnichannel publishing. In this presentation, Carrie Hane, Principal Strategist of Tanzen, will show how subject domain modeling combined with content modeling sets the stage for a cross-discipline, content-centric implementation process. Instead of developers guessing what content types are needed to support the content, specifications are developed collaboratively. The result is a faster build and easier content management.

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HELLO!
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Carrie Hane
@carriehd

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Who are you?

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WHERE ARE WE
TODAY?
A quick history of the web

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1999 TO THE PRESENT
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1999 2003 2017

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WE’VE GOT SOME PROBLEMS
• So much content
• So many devices
• Changing design trends
• Organization-­centric
• Silos
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How can we break the cycle of tear-­down websites?
How do we stop our organizations from being hoarders?
How can we stop building websites that are hard to
maintain?

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WE KNOW WHAT’S COMING
• Artificial intelligence
• Internet of things
• Screenless interfaces
• Portable interactive experiences
• Devices talking to each other
• Information being shared across systems
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THINKING
DIFFERENTLY
Future-­friendly content

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WINDOWS ON OUR WORLDS
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structured content
Information that is planned, developed, and
connected outside of an interface. It treats
content as as data so that it makes sense to
people and computers.

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Are you using a structured content
approach?

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DOMAIN MODEL
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CONTENT MODEL
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ARE YOU WITH ME?

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IMPLEMENTING
FUTURE-­FRIENDLY
CONTENT
Building the CMS to
support the content

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CONTENT TYPES ARE KEY
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content type
A reusable container for managing content by
common structure and purpose

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WHAT DOES THE RIGHT CMS LOOK LIKE?
• Flexible and unstructured
• Node-­based, separating
content from presentation
or container
• Model-­driven, has no (or
optional) rendering engine
and exposes an API
• Designed for the author
experience
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YESNO

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WHAT DOES GOOD IMPLEMENTATION LOOK LIKE?
• Content planning is done before CMS configuration
• By considering all the parts of the model first, we save
time and money later
• Content planning can’t be avoided — either you do it or
your developers will
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content + development + design = good implementation

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PLANNING THE CMS AND INTERFACE
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PLANNING CMS CONTENT TYPES
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Input Field Field Title Field Type
Content Type Person Content Type Name
Description
Info about people associated
with IAS
Text (plain)
Title (change label to) Name Title
Body (change label to) Bio Body
Picture Picture Image
FirstName First Name Text (plain)
LastName Last Name Text (plain)
TwitterID Twitter ID Text (plain)
MainEvent Event Entity reference
Role Role Term reference
PERSON content type

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PERSON CONTENT TYPE IN THE CMS
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DISPLAY TEMPLATE
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PERSON DESIGN PATTERN FOR LISTS OF PEOPLE
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DYNAMIC DISPLAY -­ SPEAKERS
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DYNAMIC DISPLAY -­ TEAM
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Now you can…
Do so much more

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YOU CAN…
• Change designs or CMS without a complete redesign
and re-­architecture
• Publish across channels with a single piece of content
• Integrate with other systems more easily
• Reuse content throughout the websites or interfaces
• Improve SEO
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DYNAMIC STORYTELLING
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RECAP
• Why we need a different way of thinking about websites
• Start designing outside the interface with domain and
content modeling
• Choosing the right CMS
• Planning a good implementation
• Dynamic storytelling potential
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What are the anticipated challenges to
switching to a structured content
approach?
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TOOLS FOR DOING THIS
Site Build Worksheet – Keep track of everything
Content Spec Sheets – Help authors create structured content
bit.ly/tanzen-­tools
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MORE RESOURCES ON STRUCTURED CONTENT
• Tanzen blog (www.tanzenconsulting.com/blog)
• UX Booth articles (www.uxbooth.com/author/carriehane)
• Designing Future-­Friendly Content: Modeling Structure for
Every User Interface (on Medium)
• Training the CMS (on A List Apart)
• Web Content Management by Deane Barker
• Content Everywhere by Sara Wachter-­Boettcher
• Content Strategy for Mobile by Karen McGrane
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THANK YOU
QUESTIONS?
Carrie Hane
tanzenconsulting.com
carrie@tanzenconsulting.com
@carriehd