The BBC’s Fifteen Web Principles

Some really good points from Tom Loosemore's Blog. BBC have anamazing ability to gather some really clever people.1. Build web products that meet audience needs: anticipate needs notyet fully articulated by audiences, then meet them with products thatset new standards. (nicked from Google)2. The very best websites do one thing really, really well: do less,but execute perfectly. (again, nicked from Google, with a tip of thehat to Jason Fried)3. Do not attempt to do everything yourselves: link to other high-quality sites instead. Your users will thank you. Use other people'scontent and tools to enhance your site, and vice versa.4. Fall forward, fast: make many small bets, iterate wildly, backsuccesses, kill failures, fast.5. Treat the entire web as a creative canvas: don't restrict yourcreativity to your own site.6. The web is a conversation. Join in: Adopt a relaxed,conversational tone. Admit your mistakes.7. Any website is only as good as its worst page: Ensure bestpractice editorial processes are adopted and adhered to.8. Make sure all your content can be linked to, forever.9. Remember your granny won't ever use "Second Life": She may comeonline soon, with very different needs from early-adopters.10. Maximise routes to content: Develop as many aggregations ofcontent about people, places, topics, channels, networks & time aspossible. Optimise your site to rank high in Google.11. Consistent design and navigation needn't mean one-size-fits-all:Users should always know they're on one of your websites, even ifthey all look very different. Most importantly of all, they know theywon't ever get lost.12. Accessibility is not an optional extra: Sites designed that wayfrom the ground up work better for all users13. Let people paste your content on the walls of their virtualhomes: Encourage users to take nuggets of content away with them,with links back to your site14. Link to discussions on the web, don't host them: Only host web-based discussions where there is a clear rationale15. Personalisation should be unobtrusive, elegant and transparent:After all, it's your users' data. Best respect it.http://www.tomski.com/archive/new_archive/000063.html