d3

Headlines and blurbs at a glance

Site Genre: Pattern Group d

magnify image Figure D3.1 The World News site uses database-driven headlines and blurbs to draw readers’ attention to the full article on a page deeper in the site.

Background

For NEWS MOSAICS (A2), headlines and blurbs are critical ways to drive reader interest. COMMUNITY CONFERENCE (A3) sites can take excerpts from MESSAGE BOARDS (D5) and BLOGS (A12) and make them blurbs on the HOMEPAGE PORTAL (C1) to highlight what’s taking place in the discussion forums. ENABLING INTRANETS (A11) can highlight new events, services, or places where the company is mentioned in the media. In PAGE TEMPLATES (D1), we defined the structure of each page and how CONTENT MODULES (D2) can be used to publish new content. To draw people into these detailed pages, though, each piece of content needs a hook in the form of a headline. This pattern forms the core of the content hook.

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PROBLEM

Content pages need short, descriptive headlines and blurbs to hook customers into clicking for more content deeper on a site. These hooks also need to be published elsewhere on a site so that visitors will be able to see them.

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SOLUTION

magnify image Figure D3.5 Use the inverted-pyramid writing style to write your headlines and blurbs.

Write a hook, in the form of a headline and blurb, that articulates why the content is important and unique to the visitor. Store these headlines and blurbs in the content database, along with the longer article, so that they can be targeted to content modules on different pages.

Other Patterns to Consider

Use the headline you create for the content as the DISTINCTIVE HTML TITLE (D9) for the target page containing the longer article. You might also use the blurb as the first paragraph in an article, as part of the INVERTED-PYRAMID WRITING STYLE (D7). Put related headlines and blurbs in CONSISTENT SIDEBARS OF RELATED CONTENT (I6).

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