Editorial planning
Content planning and writing instructions
Decide what the page must do before asking someone to write it.
A content plan gives a writer the page’s purpose, reader, scope, sources and structure. It turns a broad subject into a clear assignment, while leaving room for sound editorial judgement. Use this hub to plan new pages, revisions to existing pages and a reviewable handoff.
Identify the subject and the page’s job
Name the subject precisely, including the entity, service or situation the page describes. Then state what the reader should learn or be able to do. A definition page and a service page can share a subject while owning different questions.
Record the audience, entry context and boundaries. Explain which nearby questions belong elsewhere. That decision prevents a writer from treating every related keyword as another passage and helps the editor recognise when the draft has wandered from its purpose.
Give claims a source and a place
For each factual claim, specify the support required and where it belongs. Separate verified business facts from a proposed explanation, a worked example and an unanswered question. A writer should not have to invent a price, policy, result or product capability to complete a passage.
Keep conditions with the claim they limit. If the evidence is incomplete, identify the missing input and the person who can settle it. A draft can proceed around an open fact, but that fact needs a decision before it becomes a published assertion.
Arrange the content in a useful reading order
An outline is more useful when it explains the job of each passage. Start with the answer or orientation the reader needs, then add the explanation, criteria, example or steps that make it usable. Put prerequisites before an action and limits beside the choice they affect.
Specify the answer form for a reason. Use a comparison for consistent criteria, a process for ordered actions and a definition for a precise distinction. Do not prescribe a table or FAQ merely because another result uses one.
Make the main task visible in the layout
The page composition should make its purpose apparent. Place supporting visuals beside the explanation they serve and keep captions within the same claim. A mobile layout must preserve the content relationships rather than treating the image as a separate strip.
For an interactive component, specify its inputs, calculation rules, errors and fallback before design begins. For a diagram, provide a readable explanation of the relationships. A visual specification is incomplete if it describes appearance but leaves the reader’s action undefined.
Match the assignment to the type of page
A new page needs a reason to exist and a place in the site. A revision starts with an existing answer, its strengths and the changes required. A comparison needs fair criteria; documentation needs version, prerequisites and recovery; a category page needs useful selection and routes.
Give each assignment the information that changes that page’s decisions. Avoid copying the same long checklist into every task. Required fields should settle a real ambiguity, identify a dependency or give the reviewer a practical acceptance check.
Hand over decisions as well as headings
The writer needs the accepted inputs, sources, page boundaries, link destinations and unresolved questions together. The editor needs to know which facts are fixed and which choices remain open. Agree who can approve facts, editorial changes and publication.
Review the instructions before drafting and revise them when a source or page purpose changes. At handoff, identify the current version and next owner. The people receiving the assignment need the same clear account of the task.
Learning directory
Find the article for your task.
Use a focused article when you need the method, criteria or example for one part of the work.
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- Visual centerpiece writing instructions
- Interactive tool writing instructions
- Accessibility fallback writing instructions
- Content maintenance handoff writing instructions
- Multi reviewer approval writing instructions
Questions about editorial planning.
Do writing instructions need finished copy?
They need enough detail to settle the page’s job, facts, structure and review requirements. Finished prose belongs in the draft, except for wording that must be exact.
How long should the plan be?
Long enough to remove consequential guesswork. A focused revision can need much less detail than a new comparison, calculator or technical procedure.
Can the plan change during writing?
Yes. Record the reason, update the affected decision and review changes to scope or facts before publication.
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