I’m on my way home from Web Content 2008. I first spoke at this conference last year, and It’s wonderful to see an already great conference get even better. The conference sold out for the first time this year! Scott Abel and Michael Silverman have done an excellent job putting together a conference that is refreshingly focused on what people are actually doing, not what the Web 2.0 insiders are pushing as the latest and greatest.

The leading edge is necessary - and what’s happening there is exciting - but many organizations are still at the point where they’re getting to know blogs, starting to hear about wikis, and struggling to understand how these tools can make a positive impact on their work. Conferences like Web Content 2008 that focus on demystifying Web 2.0 and demonstrating good, practical examples are an excellent venue for people to get their questions answered and find the products and services they need to be successful.

One of the best sessions I attended was More Than Just Another Pretty Face by Charles Cooper, Vice President of The Rockley Group. He talked about the importance of getting the structure right for your website, and using good visual design to make it bth usable and attractive. His advice was timeless because a good website - whether it’s a static site marketing a product or service, a blog of any type (personal, corporate, news, topical, etc.), or a wiki used for collaboration with clients and teams - can and should adhere to these principles:

• concentrates on the needs of the user
• loads quickly
• doesn’t have a splash screen
• clear purpose
• easy to navigate
• labels, titles, and buttons must be clearly named
• easy to find information

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