How to Request Corrections or Changes to a Web
Page
By Jonathan Lehrer
It's any Web developer's nightmare. An e-mail from
a client, requesting dozens of corrections to numerous pages, without
clearly referencing which change applies to which page. A fax with
numerous scribbled corrections, half of them cut off at the edge of
the fax.
When working with your Web developer (whether it's
Jonathan
Lehrer Communications or anybody else), you can save everybody's
time if you follow a standard format to communicate corrections.
Corrections by E-mail or Fax
Where practical, we appreciate receiving
corrections and additions via e-mail, which allows us to copy/paste
without re-keystroking everything. On occasion, corrections will be
too numerous or complicated to e-mail, and these should be provided by
fax.
E-mail Subject Line
Like everyone else, we get a ton of e-mail. Those messages with
non-specific subject lines can get lost in the clutter. Consider
these examples:
Poor E-mail Subject Lines
"re:
"
"please help"
"oops i goofed"
Helpful Subject Lines
"Corrections needed
to mydomain.com home page"
"New text for
mydomain.com"
"Fix typos at
mydomain.com ASAP"
Notice that the helpful subject lines always
include your Web domain and the type of change or improvement needed.
In the Body of Your Message
Feel free to include more than one change in the
body of an e-mail message, but be careful to spell out exactly which
page gets the correction. It is especially helpful to number the
corrections for future reference.
Point your browser to the page needing the change
and copy the exact URL (page address) from the browser's address bar,
then paste it into your e-mail. The result should look like this:
http://www.lehrercommunications.com/resources.htm
Underneath the URL, state your request as clearly
as possible. Examples:
#1 - In para 2,
replace "yesterday" with "today."
or
#2 - Delete the third
paragraph, replace with the following text.
(Skip a line and
insert the new text right into your e-mail.)
or
#3 - The photo at the
end of the second row needs to be cropped tighter to the subject.
Also please brighten the image, if possible.
Proofread, then Re-Proofread
When you provide us with a new paragraph to be
inserted on your site, we are likely to copy the text from the e-mail
message and paste it right into the page you so carefully specified.
That means we may pick up your typos. We carefully copy-edit the
material we post, but it would be helpful if you gave it a careful
proofreading before hitting the SEND button on your e-mail program.
Handling Error Messages
Make your Web developer happy by taking care to
provide the exact text of any error messages that you encounter on
your site. As above, be sure to indicate the page on which the error
appeared. Using the PrtScrn button on your computer, you can capture
an image of the error message and paste it right into your e-mail
message.
Broken Links
When reporting a broken link, give both the page
you were on and the page you were trying to get to. (Tip
contributed by John Moss.)
[posted 1/25/04]
|
