Content Everywhere starts here.

Hello, and welcome! Chances are, you’re here because you’re interested in the future of content (or, you’re a friend or family member I’ve cajoled into visiting).

Either way, I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s an exciting time to work with content.

Our users are visiting our web properties on increasingly diverse and portable devices, and expecting to do more once they get there—and the websites and applications we build are starting to keep up: responsive web designs that reshape to fit varied devices; read-it-later apps that allow us to shift content for future use; fresh content driven by a focused content strategy. Yet there’s still much to be done.

New devices and channels will continue to emerge, and each one requires content—content that must come from somewhere. Too often, it’s from spending even more: more time, more money, more of our already stretched-too-thin resources.

There’s a better way.

Instead of keeping pace with endless demands for more content, we can begin to create content that’s structured, flexible, and reusable—that can travel where our users need it, reshape to fit varied displays, and keep its heart intact all the while.

Like many of you, I’m not an expert in CMS technology, markup, or APIs. I come from content—writing it, editing it, planning it—with a heavy dose of IA and UX picked up over the years. I’m writing this book because I think decisions about how to structure, store, and share content have too often been left in solely technical hands: developers, IT departments, CMS vendors.

Instead, it’s time we—the writers, strategists, architects, designers, and other assorted web workers of the world—reach beyond our comfort zones and join our technical teams in making decisions that affect our content’s ability to thrive.

But that doesn’t mean I have all the answers. In fact, I need your help:

• Know of an organization that’s future-readying its content well? I want to hear about it.
• Preparing content for a responsive design or multiple device outputs? I’d love to know how you’re approaching it—and what you’ve learned.
• Think I’m missing something major? Tell me what I need to consider.

I’m pretty excited about this book, but I’d be even more excited to include stories of others who are grappling with these issues. So please do get in touch. I’d be delighted to hear what you think.