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Why Content, Architecture, and Presentation Must Work Together

The debate over the importance of content has been going on for—well, since human beings were able to create content and then deliver it through various means. Flash forward to the Web age and the current debate over the value of content, and the debate is intensifying. But are the questions on the right track?

The Content is King/Not King Debate

In a paper titled “Content is Not King” published in 2001, mathematician Andrew Michael Odlyzko argued that “connectivity is more important than content.” His claim is that content is subordinate to personal and business communication and that businesses can make costly mistakes when they think “Content is King”. Taking a different tack, Charles Warner wrote on The Huffington Post in 2009 that, “To say that ‘content is king’ in today’s world is like saying ‘a grain of sand is precious.’” In other words, all content being equal, and who can tell a gem from a fleck of dirt? Social marketing guru Chris Brogan, author of the book Trust Agents, blogged in November 2009: “Content is a means to deliver interest…. That doesn’t make it the king.”

Clearly, these authors are engaging in the “content is king/not king” debate. But let’s consider a completely different scenario. Let’s think and act from a different realm so that we don’t miss what is vital about how content behaves on the Web.

Content Does Not Exist in a Vacuum

On the Web, content is not king because it is not supposed to be king, it is not intended to be king. Content does not exist in a vacuum. This is true because there are two other aspects, just as vital, just as important, that must be considered when thinking about the function and design of a website. These are architecture and presentation.

The Website Triumvirate (or, Who Invited Him to the Party?)

Every website consists of three fundamental elements: content, architecture, and presentation. Every bit of a website—its pages, files, images, videos, and other digital assets—can be placed into one of the three fundamental elements. Content is what you have to say, architecture is the structure of what you say, and presentation is delivery. All three must work together to form a pleasing and comprehensive whole.

Let’s use the analogy of a person for a website. There are three fundamental elements to every person: psychological (the content of who and what they are), physiological (their physical architecture), and cosmetic (their external presentation). Now think of this person (this website) at a cocktail party, attempting to engage and interact with real people (website users). How and why does one website draw people to it and, more importantly, keep them coming back for more?

Interaction is key. People desire to be engaged, as in a good conversation, and the best websites provide the experience of being socially engaged. Learning. Being entertained. Completing tasks. This is done through valuable content, within an architecture that provides logical organization, delivered and showcased in an appealing presentation.

Who Do You Want at Your Party?

Your website, large or small, with dozens or hundreds of pages/files/pieces of digital assets, represents you at the party, which is the marketplace. If your website isn’t engaging the user, isn’t providing the user with what the user self-identifies as a “needed experience”, you can bet that that user will find another website at the party to do the job.

Very likely your site is at the party now. Re-visit it, have a look around, think about the website triumvirate (content, architecture, and presentation); and question and research what might need to change. Ask the partygoers (your website’s users) who they want to meet at the party. After all, the “life of the party” provides a needed user experience.

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Robert Jacoby is a past Website Manager for the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Editor-in-Chief of the American Medical Writers Association Journal. He is currently enrolled in the Master of Information Management program at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies.  You can reach Robert by email at rajacoby at gmail dot com.