Field guide 02
Building web and content systems teams can operate
How architecture, content modelling, accessibility, performance, search, measurement and editorial ownership fit into one maintainable web system.
01Purpose
Start with the journeys the website has to support
Architecture should follow audience needs, conversion journeys, editorial capacity and system connections rather than an inherited page list.
- Priority audiences and tasks
- Content purpose by journey stage
- Conversion and hand-off requirements
- Editorial and technical ownership
02Content model
Structure information before designing pages
Content types, fields, relationships and reusable components create consistency while giving editors useful control. The model should survive a redesign and support more than one presentation.
- Content types tied to real editorial objects
- Fields with guidance and validation
- Reusable components with clear limits
- Taxonomy and relationship rules
- Review and retirement metadata
03Operations
Publishing is an operating process
The system needs a defined route from brief to draft, subject review, accessibility and search checks, approval, publication, measurement and eventual retirement.
- Named content owner
- Role-based review steps
- Preview that reflects production
- Scheduled review date
- Archive and redirect decision
04Quality
Accessibility and performance need release budgets
Quality degrades when it is checked only during a redesign. Set measurable standards per template and test them whenever code, content or third-party scripts change.
- Keyboard and focus behaviour
- Semantic structure and accessible names
- Image, font and script budgets
- Core journey testing
- Automated regression checks
05Search
Protect discovery through architecture and migration
Search performance depends on useful content, clear internal relationships, stable URLs and a migration process that records what moves, changes, redirects or retires.
- URL and indexation inventory
- Intent-led information architecture
- Internal linking responsibilities
- Redirect map with one destination
- Post-launch crawl and reconciliation
06Connection
A form is the start of an owned customer process
Submission, consent, source, enrichment, CRM creation, routing and confirmation have to work as one journey, with failure visible to the responsible team.
- Validate and preserve source context
- Record consent evidence
- Prevent or reconcile duplicates
- Assign an owner and response clock
- Monitor failed delivery
07Maintenance
Leave a system that can change safely
A maintainable site has controlled dependencies, documented environments, a release path, monitoring, tested recovery and a backlog shaped by real usage.
- Dependency and security ownership
- Staged deployment and rollback
- Backup restoration rehearsal
- Performance and error monitoring
- Editor documentation and training
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