Understanding your user needs will help you understand the best format for your content. Remember the format does not always have to be text. Good content design considers all possible formats, including:
- visual information, such as tables, graphs, maps, photographs and infographics
- online calculators or calendars
- audio and videos.
Digital content
Digital content is any information that can be accessed online, including on websites, apps and through social media. Think about the delivery modes your audience may use or have access to, any constraints, and what these mean for content development.
Internet access
Some rural and remote areas may not have reliable, consistent internet access. Such users may prefer digital content that has smaller images and faster page load times. You may also find that a downloadable version is required (see 'Printed or printable content' on this page).
Device access
Around half of global web traffic is from mobile devices, and some users may not have access to another device. Think about how users will experience your content if they are using a mobile device:
- Content – especially any visual content or diagrams – will appear differently on portrait versus landscape orientation.
- Because a mobile phone screen is not very wide, all content needs to go into 1 column.
- Because a mobile screen can only display a few words per line, keep the total number of words relatively low.
- The narrower width of the screen means that navigation bars are often relocated or changed to expandable menus.
- Users on mobile devices are drawn to the centre of the screen and will scroll to put content there. In contrast, desktop users typically read in an ‘F’ shape, where they scan along the top of the content and then down the left-hand side.
Some content is unsuitable for mobile reading and use. This includes reference materials, long forms, detailed graphics and illustrations, and other scenarios where a large screen and full keyboard would facilitate interaction with the content. If you know your users are likely to be on mobile phones, you may need to avoid or limit these types of content.
Printed or printable content
There may be instances where a hard copy is best or is needed alongside digital content. Examples include:
- user groups that have lower than average digital literacy, as identified through user research
- government and government organisations’ annual reports that need to be tabled in parliament as a printed document
- scientific literature and peer-reviewed journal articles that need to be published as downloadable PDFs
- brochures, posters or fact sheets that need to be printed and displayed, or shared
- tickets, timetables and schedules
- forms (both forms that are filled out by hand and fillable onscreen forms that are printed out for hard-copy submission)
- step-by-step instructions (e.g. recipes)
- material intended for handwritten additions, such as notes for a course, which the user will add their own comments to.
In such cases, you should ensure that content works both on screen and in print:
- Screen-friendly means that all useful elements such as navigation aids are accessible, and the text is clear, flows well, and is properly sized without requiring any left-to-right scrolling.
- Printer-friendly means that a printed version contains only the essential elements (text, tables, graphics if they are important) and none of the elements that reduce the readability of the printed document (ads, navigation elements, pop-ups). The printer-friendly version is formatted to fit on standard office paper (A4 in Australia).
Content can be formatted to be printer-friendly from the start. Alternatively, you can provide a ‘printer-friendly version’ button that translates the content into a printable format, or offer a PDF version.
The Australian Government Style manual has detailed guidance on content formats(Opens in a new tab/window), including blogs, forms, social media and PDFs.