Note you can get a flavour of what they offer on their free Nibbler site http://nibbler.silktide.com/

Also of interest is their list of top performing sites - http://nibbler.silktide.com/top-sites (currently eight ac.uk sites in top 100, and a whole load of gov sites too)

I think it must be terribly inaccurate though - it reported our Director's blog as a "Boring webpage", admittedly just based on a low "text-to-image ratio" !!!!



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James Morley                       [log in to unmask]
Website Manager                    Tel. +44 (0)20 8332 5759
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew         www.kew.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Managing institutional Web services 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of ALLISON Neil
> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 1:11 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Content Strategy
> 
>  
> I'm intrigued by the software Deborah mentioned:
> SiteRay (http://www.silktide.com/siteray)
> 
> Anybody using it? What are you doing with the results? Is it any good?
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> 
> Neil Allison
> 
> University Website Project
> The University of Edinburgh
> 0131 650 9513 
> 
> Keep up to date with the Project:
> www.ed.ac.uk/website-project
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered 
> in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Managing institutional Web services 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Deborah Fern
> Sent: 12 April 2010 11:12
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Content Strategy
> 
> Hi all
> 
> I'm probably a bit late to this conversation but its my first 
> day back in the office for a while :)
> 
> In answer to Paul's questions:
> 
> 1. Do you deal with content centrally?
> 
> No, like others with a cms we have a distributed network of 
> web editors across the institution. None of them are 
> specifically web developers, they are just people who have 
> had it put as part of their role in various teams and 
> departments. So it's devolved to the people who are 'owners' 
> of the information.
> 
> 2. If you have distributed content providers how do you 
> ensure quality and accuracy?
> 
> We use a piece of software called SiteRay 
> (http://www.silktide.com/siteray) which we use to regularly 
> run reports on parts of the site. Simple errors are sent for 
> the web editors to fix themselves (or else they never learn) 
> and errors in templates or anything more technical is dealt 
> with by the central web team.
> 
> 3. What training do you give content providers?
> 
> The web and publications team in Marketing run a 'Writing for 
> the Web' session, this is compulsory and must be completed 
> before we give them the technical training on the cms. Once 
> they have the technical training they get access to the 
> system, but without publishing rights. We also have a test of 
> common mistakes that they must take before they get 
> publishing rights. Like a driving test there are minor and 
> major errors, if they get any major errors wrong we will go 
> through it with them and they then must wait a while before 
> taking it again. If they miss a minor error we'll go through 
> it with them but they still get publishing access.
> 
> We also run a series of monthly workshops for the web editors 
> to book on. They cover specific templates, working with 
> documents, using images on the site, web accessibility, 
> analytics reports etc. Also as part of this regular slot we 
> hold drop-in sessions where people can just come along and 
> ask us questions about their specific issues.
> 
> As well as all this they can always call the web team with 
> any problems and we'll either talk them through it on the 
> phone, or go over and sit with them at their desk to resolve 
> it. This covers technical queries but more often than not the 
> queries we get are on the best way to display the information 
> on the site.
> 
> 
> 4. Do you set a 'corporate tone' for written content?
> 
> Yes we do. It is designed to match our brand (friendly, 
> supportive etc) and is what the 'Writing for the Web' 
> training is based on. We also have it available as a document 
> for people to download as well as handy cards reminding 
> people of common misspellings and alternatives for jargon.
> 
> I'm happy to share more information if people are interested 
> in the writing guidelines or workshops - just email me or 
> tweet me (http://twitter.com/webpackets)
> 
> Deborah
>