| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Above the fold | Content that is immediately visible to your audience once they land on a given page, without needing to scroll. |
| Accessibility | How well your web content can be accessed and received by all users, including users with a disability. This is especially important, and legally mandated, for our government websites. |
| Active voice | Resembles spoken language and gives a subject credit for an action. In active sentences, the subject is doing an action. |
| Alt text | Text describing the appearance of a visual element on a webpage. It is indexed by search engines (SEO) and read aloud by screen readers (accessibility). |
| Audience | People interacting with your website. Also called users and readers in this guide. |
| Automated posting | There are (paid) options, like Hootsuite, that automate posting so that you can prepare posts ahead of time to post later. Depending on your agency’s bandwidth and the nature of your posts, this method might make sense. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| No results | No Results |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Click-through rate | The number of clicks your content gets divided by the numbers of times it is shown to users. |
| Confirmation bias | When you instinctively attach positive qualities to people who look or sound like you. |
| Conscious language | Language that promotes equity. |
| CTA | Call-to-action that requires a user to take an action. “Download Now” buttons, click-to-call icons, links, and forms are all examples of CTA’s. CTA’s should be visually highlighted, and content will likely be structured around these goals. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Decorative images | Decorative images don’t add any unique content or message to a page. They are only used to accent a message or make a webpage more attractive. These types of images should be classified with an empty alt tag (alt="") to avoid audible clutter for screen readers. |
| Document name | What you save the original document as in your computer. |
| Duplicate content | Content that appears in more than one place. If two webpages are too similar, search engines may see this as duplicate content. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| End user | The person actually using your website. |
| Equity | Fairness and justice to all. Equity is different and separate from equality and |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| File name | Sitecore requires you to name your PDF when it is uploaded into the system to be used on webpages. Keeping your document and file names consistent will help keep you organized and help alleviate version-control problems. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Gender bias | The tendency to favor one gender over another. For our work, we should also avoid the tendency to pair things with specific genders. |
| Gender neutral | Not specific to one gender. |
| Government jargon | Using specialized terms known by government officials or professionals, without consideration for the users understanding. We should avoid using government jargon in our writing. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Headlines | Top Headlines serve as the overarching title of your content. Sub-headlines are the succeeding titles for the subsections of your content. Make sure these are clear so mobile users can identify the appropriate sections of your page. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Intent | For users, the intent is the behavior or goal behind their actions, and why they’re visiting your site. For authors, the intent is the meaning or goal behind the words. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| No Results | No Results |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Words or phrases users input to search engines. |
| Knowledge base |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| No Results | No Results |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Meta description | The description that shows under your title tag on the SERP. These sentences should further describe what your content is about. |
| Metadata | Unseen content (usually HTML) that search engines crawl to better interpret your content. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| No Results | No Results |
| Word | Definition |
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| No Results | No Results |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Passive voice | Often uses extra words and “helping” verbs that aren’t necessary to deliver the message. In passive sentences, the subject is being acted upon. |
| Type of file format (Portable Document Format). PDFs can be crawled by search engines and are the appropriate format to use for long documents, guidelines with tables, and documents that require printing. | |
| Persona | Defined type of user with specific goals and behaviors. An audience can have many personas within it. For instance, if “parents” are identified as an audience, then one persona could be a parent who is re-entering the workforce after raising their child at home. |
| Plain language | A way of writing to your audience that’s simple and easy to understand. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| No Results | No Results |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Responsive design | Dynamic changes to the layout of a webpage depending on a user’s device, behavior, etc. Responsive design makes websites faster and more accessible. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Screen readers | Assistive technology that automatically reads written content aloud. |
| SEO | (Search engine optimization) Improving web content for rankings in search engines. Common SEO practices include keyword research and link building. Alt text and descriptive links are crawled by search engines, so optimizing this text is a great idea for boosting SEO value. |
| SERP | Search engine results page. |
| Sitecore | This CMS houses most of the web content for our CT.GOV-Connecticut's Official State Website sites. Sitecore is where you can edit pages, add alt text, etc. |
| Sub-headlines | Lower in the hierarchy than top headlines, sub-headlines are the succeeding titles for the subsections of your content. If your top headline is an H1 in HTML, your sub-headlines will be H2’s, H3’s, etc. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Text speak | When someone writes how they would in a text message or other digital communication. We should avoid this in our writing while still remaining conversational. |
| Thin content | Content that provides no value to users. |
| Title tags | The content title that shows on the SERP. |
| Tone | Tone is the communication style or attitude of your writing. It can be official, informal, friendly, funny, or serious, among many other styles. You should be aware of the tone you are using because it can have a big effect on how readers understand your work. |
| Top headlines | Traditionally h1’s in HTML*, top headlines serve as the overarching title of your content. These are also called headers and heading tags, and they are essential for UX and SEO. Make sure your top headline accurately describes your content and includes a top keyword if possible. Bonus points if your headline directly addresses popular queries bringing users to your content. For example, if “how to renew a license” is driving traffic to your site, it’s a good idea to shape your top headline around this search so users know they’re in the right place. On Ct.gov sites, top headlines may be h3’s, h4’s, etc, instead of h1’s. |
| Trolls | Online personalities that make deliberately upsetting/ damaging comments. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| URL | The address of a webpage. CT.gov is a URL. |
| UX | (User experience) How the user interacts with/experiences your web content. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Voice | Voice is the combination of tone, word choice, point of view, syntax, punctuation, and rhythm that a writer uses. |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| No Results | No Results |
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| No Results | No Results |
| Word | Definition |
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| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Z pattern | A style of webpage / print design that draws a reader’s eye downward and across the page using visual cues. |