Research and evidence
Tools and evidence to back up content design decisions.
This section lists some of the main sources of information and research that support the Government Digital Service (GDS) style and approach to content design.
Content strategy
Letting Go of the Words Janice Redish
Content Strategy for the Web Kristina Halvorson, Melissa Rach
Clout: the Art and Science of Influential Web Content Coleen Jones
The Web Content Style Guide Gerry McGovern, Rob Norton, Catherine O’Dowd
User experience
Don’t Make Me Think Steve Krug
Nielsen Norman Group research Jakob Nielsen
Writing for the web
GOV.UK content principles: conventions and research background Reading University
Style
The following have been useful for content designers, but this is not an exhaustive list of available tools.
Content Data
See the section on Data and analytics to find out how to use Content Data to understand how your content is performing.
Google Trends and Keyword Planner and Analytics
See the section on Data and analytics to find out how to research keywords and user behaviour.
Awesome screenshot
Awesome screenshot is an application that can capture, annotate, save and share screenshots. If you download it from the Chrome app store, it will be added to your bookmarks.
Find in admin
This bookmarklet allows you to jump immediately from a live page on GOV.UK to the corresponding admin page in Whitehall publisher.
You will need to be logged into your Whitehall account to set up and use the bookmarklet.
Hemingway
The Hemingway application highlights common errors. Use it to catch long sentences, adverbs, passive voice and complicated words.
Jargone
Jargone is a browser bookmarklet for highlighting jargon words on any page. Just because Jargone flags something does not necessarily mean it’s banned in that context - check the style guide.