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The advantages of structured content are: • You can design a standard page for the content type, enter the content in a structured way, and then use the system to generate pages. You don’t have to create each page manually. • When anyone adds new content, it automatically gets included in lists that link to it (such as index pages). • You can create different views of the content and store it once. For example, with the presentation information I could create an A-Z list of titles, a schedule, and a list containing only content with embedded audio and slideshows. And when I add a new presentation, it appears in the right place without an extra step. But structured content takes more work. You need to define its pieces, and then decide how you are going to use it. And every item has to fit into the structure. So only create structured content when you’ll be using the structure to automatically generate content, or to generate different views of it.
Setting content priorities Depending on the size of the project you’re working on, and whether there’s any time-specific or seasonal content, you may need to decide when to release certain content. You’re likely to do this after drafting the IA, but I’ve included it in this chapter because you should start thinking about it while you’re analysing your content. In the olden days of the web, most of my projects were large website designs or redesigns that would be launched when they were complete. These days, most of my projects are released in stages. The main advantage of releasing in stages is you can release content earlier. Projects that wait until everything is ‘finished’ get held up by the slowest content. Releasing in stages also acknowledges the web isn’t a publication. Your site will always be changing, so there’s no need to wait for everything to be finished.