We saw an article on Habr

Under the cut, a particular example of finding a topic, adapting it to a technical audience and forming the correct article structure. Plus a little about design and readability.







And also about the selection and purchase of Russian wines.





The post itself is an augmented version of my report with GetIT Conf, which is posted on YouTube .



A few words about yourself. Ex-head of the Habra content studio. Prior to that, he worked in various media (3DNews, iXBT, RIA Novosti). Over the past 2.5 years, about four hundred articles have passed through my hands. We created a lot, made mistakes, gave out hits. In general, the practice was diverse. I will not pretend to be the most talented hub writer, but one way or another, I have accumulated rich experience and all kinds of statistics, which I am happy to share.

Why are IT people afraid to write

This is not a complete list. But it is precisely on them that the answer will be given further in the text.



By the way, if you have your own reasons why don’t write, or you see for others some similar “sins” (except laziness), write in the comments. A discussion of all these stories will surely help many get off the ground.

Why do you need to write at all?

I just put here the collage I collected from the quotes in this article.







The preparation and publication of articles in the community is a pumping of soft skills. Well, there are such things:







For me, the last point about systematization is important here. When you understand a topic and are ready to shift some of the knowledge or experience to paper, you will have to answer the reader for every word, every term and every choice made during the work. It’s time for your own fact checking. For example, why did you opt for a particular technology? If you write that “colleagues advised” or “was sure that it was cooler”, people with numbers will come to you in the commentary and begin to defend their point of view. Therefore, the facts and figures should be with you initially. And they need to be collected. This process, in turn, will certainly enrich you with additional knowledge or confirm existing installations.

The most important thing is choosing a topic

Here are some examples of what hit the very top of the past year:







Cap tells you that the current and complete list can be found here . Of all this, we are only interested in the genre. And this is what we get: about a third in all the TOP 40 I have taken are all kinds of investigations, a quarter are exposures, 15% are cognitive and scientific, painful and nagging, 12% each, and there are still some interspersed DIY and stories about what and how it works .

If you want hype, then these genres are yours.

Of course, choosing a topic is not an easy thing. The same journalists have “notebooks” in smartphones, where they record everything they just stumble upon during the day. Sometimes cool thoughts come completely suddenly, for example, while reading someone’s comments or arguing with colleagues. At this point, the topic must be written down, because in a minute you will probably forget it.



Accumulating random topics is just one way. But with its help, most often it is possible to find something hit.



Another way comes from your area of ​​expertise. Here you need to wonder what unique experience I got? What interesting things can I tell my colleagues from something that they have not yet encountered? What part of my experience will help them solve their problems? You take a notebook in exactly the same way and try to write ~ 10 to it into your head. Write everything in a row, even if it seems to you that the topic is not very interesting. Perhaps later it transforms into something more significant.



After you have accumulated a pack of topics, you need to start breeding. The goal is to choose one very best. In the editorial offices, this process takes place every day at the editorial boards. There, topics are collectively discussed and taken to work. And the opinion of colleagues in this matter is important.



Where to get themes for IT specialists



There is such a list.







Approximately the same list, but in the interpretation for company blogs, lies right here in the Habr help. Look into it, there you can draw a few more ideas.



If you want to delve deeper into working with topics, on November 5 in MegaFon’s office I will have a free one-hour workshop. There will be various statistics and all kinds of tips with examples. There are places so far. Details and registration form can be found here .

Theme: "what Russian wine to drink"?

Next, I want to give a small example of how and where to get the topic and adapt it to the reader. Plus pay attention to the things that are important when writing and submitting.

Why is the topic of wine taken for an example?



First of all, it is not IT, as it were, and this can serve as an example of what we need to focus on in order to be perceived with interest on the Habré.



Secondly, I am not a sommelier or a wine critic. This circumstance puts me in the place of those who believe that they are not such stars as those who occupy the top lines of the Habr rating. However, I can tell a very interesting story. The only question is to whom and how I address it. About what below.

Where did this topic come from

Everything is simple here. After an excursion to one of the Crimean wineries, I wrote an article about storytelling and marketing. I didn’t particularly touch on the topic of the wines themselves, but in the comments it was discussed, and two messages slipped there:











Under them, only openly questioning, they threw in their personal information in PM almost three dozen. Obviously, the topic is hype! And you can take it to your piggy bank. But another question arises, who am I to talk about Russian wines?







No gods burn pots, and no Schumacher taught in driving schools. Therefore, amateurs with experience can also tell you a lot of interesting things, provided that they double-check and systematize their knowledge. Well, if you touch on the topic of hype, then it is still more interesting. For example, in the “ Human Resource Management ” hub, almost all the top articles were not written by HR specialists at all.



So, the topic of wine interested me a few years ago. But I try to treat her not as an old alcoholic, but from a research point of view. I have a swollen Vivino on a smartphone, plus several years of experience in self-production of grape wines from a summer house near Moscow. By the standards of winemakers, this is not enough. But in my practice (winemaking) there are both successes and not very successful approaches, which make me study the Internet for a long time in search of tips from the pros and check them. As a result, I have accumulated a lot of information that I can share with those who simply ask “what wine should I buy?”

What has been done to us

It's time to look at what the Runet offers us on this topic. If we take only advice or information for beginners, I could not find any systemic or system-forming things. There are publications on Lifehacker and the like, there are blogs of distribution companies, there are blogs of all kinds of sommeliers. But this is not it. In non-core sources you will find either general tips that in fact will not help you make a choice, or someone else’s sick fantasies. And in the profile ... they usually talk there for those who have long been in the subject.



Here is an example of the advice of a really cool expert, a teacher of sommelier schools (I don’t name, because I respect him). The expert goes into the store, gets up in the wine ranks, looks around, takes one of the bottles and says that this is a good option. He is from a certain region of Chile. It has an intense aroma of black fruit, blackcurrant, violet, vanilla and toasted bread. He puts the bottle in place, shaves another. A relatively similar set of nouns and adjectives is expressed in relation to her, but in a different order. And as an additive, something sounds about notes of blackberry and a spark of chocolate. Further, all this is repeated again 15-20, but with other bottles. At the same time, the composition of nouns and adjectives varies slightly, but I am sure that beginners are lost even at the first.



What is the reason? In a non-systemic approach and targeting an advanced audience. If you have already tried at least a quarter of what the expert held for, then you can pick up the next bottle on his advice. In other cases, it will be a finger to the sky.



And I have not said that about what is happening on YouTube with their dominance of 18-year-old “sommeliers” who have already been fired from somewhere.

Where does the article begin?

After choosing a topic, you need to formulate a working heading.

The work heading sets the exact direction. It depends on how much water will later be in the text, and how many times you will shred it and rewrite it.

If the working headline sounds like “What kind of wine to drink,” that’s all and nothing at the same time. We will drown in this thread. Need specifics. In the heading “What Russian wine to drink” appears a hint that we should talk about how our wines differ from wines from other regions. Already better. And time to wonder what exactly we want to do and for whom?



Obviously, the hikes that we googled earlier were not systemic. I believe that people with a technical mindset are trying to classify and sort everything out. It will be difficult for them to train their built-in neural network on the principles that are offered by the same professional sommeliers. The liver can’t stand it, and for the wallet it will also be overhead. Therefore, the working title may be: "What kind of Russian wine to buy: a guide for IT people." We outline our audience with them and determine for ourselves that the information will be systematized. Plus, there will be a buying guide inside, and not just an abstract theory. Yes, and "Habr" will no longer ask, why on earth did an article about alcohol appear here.

We knock out the invoice

At this stage, it is important to understand whether we can answer all the questions within the framework of the topic. And if we are missing something, fill in the gaps before we start writing.







1. The starting point, as Cap suggests, is grapes. Here we add the theme of blends. It is generally endless, but starting from grape varieties, you can imagine what to expect in each case.



It’s also important to remember sugar. Wine yeast dies when about 14% of the alcohol is in the wort. If at this point (or earlier) the sugar in the wort is over, the wine will be dry. If the grapes were sweet, the yeast will not be able to "eat" all the sugar, and it will remain. Accordingly, there is a huge field for experiments, starting from the time of grape harvest (the longer it hangs - the more sugar it collects), and to stop fermentation in various ways.

2. But if you ask the winemakers, then in the first place in importance they are likely to put not grapes, but terroir.

Terroir, in a simplified sense, is a site that has its own climatic and soil characteristics. On one side of the hill it’s warm, on the other hand it can be windy and cool. Plus different soil. Accordingly, the grapes will taste different.

A good example of a terroir is the Massandra wine “Muscat white red stone”. According to their version, this is one of the nutmeg varieties, which are harvested on a small area of ​​3-4 hectares with rocky red soils. The only mystery for me is how 3-4 hectares show their year-round presence on all the wine shelves of the country. But that is another story.

Appellation is already a region to which strict wine-making rules apply (the use of varieties, blends and a host of others). For example, in Bordeaux there are about 40 appellations.

Well, in general, the regional climate is of great importance. And here we come to the Russian topic.

What is the problem of Russian wines

Firstly, as I see it, winemaking is only in its infancy. In the last century, it was repeatedly destroyed by revolutions, wars, perestroika and crises. In almost all places, continuity is violated, which is very critical for winemaking.



The second trouble is climate. It's chilly here and the weather is not stable. The grape needs a lot of sun. Without it, the berries will have a lot of acid and little sugar.







This is a clipping from the directory of Russian wines. It contains annual assessments of climatic conditions for individual regions. If we take a similar selection for the same Spain, there will be practically no bad years there.



As a living example, I’ll give you these little balls in a photo taken at the end of September. This is what should have become grapes in my country house, if not for the cold summer.







Therefore, this year I was left without my own isabella. However, it was replaced by fragrant cider, which at the moment confidently stepped over 13 turns and still can not calm down.



3. Winery is probably studied all my life. There are a million nuances that you need to keep in mind and not miss the right moments. It is very easy to screw up wine, and experience is necessary to straighten it. You can talk about it endlessly. Therefore, in my understanding, wine is a junction of art and technology (knowledge, methods, techniques).

How to rate wine

If by the rules, then you need to rely on a fairly fresh GOST number 32051-2013, created by smart people. It spelled out everything to the smallest detail, including tasting processes, including almost the thickness of the glasses.



However, there is a main principle called "Do not argue about tastes." And if individual indicators of the quality of wine can be shared, then grapes, blends, terroirs are everyone’s personal preference.

For example, my wife and I coincide on this issue only by 70 percent. And no matter what the highest ratings of the next Saperavi bottle, for me, at best, it will be like “yes, good wine”. But not mine. And this is the most important principle from which to build on, while the public and the sommelier operate only with adjectives good / bad, recommending all the good in a row.

Also in the selection process, ratings and expert opinions help. For example, labels with marks of this wine from well-known magazines such as Wine Enthusiast or Wine Advocate, made according to Robert Parker's stall-free system, can be glued to bottles. But this applies to a more expensive segment of wines.



Wine expert Arthur Sargsyan does a great job for the Russian segment. Since 2012, the editorial guide “Russian Wines” has been published under his editorship, and this year, together with Roskachestvo, he threatened another project - “ Wine Guide ”. In May, they bought 320 bottles of domestic wine in the Moscow retail category in the category of up to 1000 rubles, assembled a team of 20 sommeliers, according to the results of which 87 bottles fell into the recommended category.



Now they are preparing a second round, for which much more samples were purchased. They plan to release a report towards the end of December.



In addition to the opinions of experts, “hall help” often helps out. Using the Vivino app, you scan a label and see what ratings other alcoholic buyers have blamed. According to my observations, that is gaining more than 3.8 points, it is quite possible to take a sample. The only thing after scanning is to always check whether the brand of wine is recognized correctly and especially the year. If not, there you can manually edit the input data and get the desired one.

Matching Algorithm

For a beginner, it is simple: start from grapes (blends), find your varieties, find your producers. Evaluate how stable the quality of their wines in popular ranges can be throughout the year. Take a look at Vivino and its directories.



Yes, there is still such a thing as “mood”! In hot weather, for example, you want cold and light, in the autumn on barbecue something more dense, tart (tannin). There are a lot of options, and do not try to cram yourself into patterns such as “red to meat, white to fish, champagne for the new year”. This is very rude and generalized.



As a result, we get such a scheme: the current mood → varieties (blends) → region → producer → Vivino → bottle. But this is not a dogma. Try a new one, as interesting and unexpected discoveries very often happen.



So, if the invoice is collected, and within the framework of the topic you are ready to answer all possible questions, you need to proceed to the structure. If gaps are found, they must be filled before writing, otherwise, while working on the text, catch the virus of uncertainty and get sick with procrastination.

Article structure

It follows the selected format. An encyclopedic post will have one, a review - another.

But in general, there is a good rule - all the most interesting should be as close to the beginning as possible.

The reader opens the article, scrolls a little, and if he does not see anything interesting, leaves. In general, a conversation about structure is a topic of a separate story.

In our case, it will be like this:

1. Since the article is for Habr, we must immediately explain what the wines will be doing on this IT platform. Here we raise the main problem that information on this topic in most sources is suitable only for training neural networks and, in fact, is a bigdata. And we need a systematic approach.
2. In second place will be the holivar “domestic vs import”. It will serve as the first bright element for the reader.
3. Against the background of the holivar, you can already tell how the wines differ in general.
4. Evaluation criteria and labeling can be given in large boxes.
5. The purchase algorithm, where we start from the mood, grapes (blend) and end with the help of the hall.
6. The slag insert is the cherry on our cake. The so-called “second ending” technique, when you have already covered the whole topic and sort of put an end to it, but then give another portion of useful information.

So that the reader can read

The text has the concept of usability. So that the reader doesn’t get lost halfway, one rule must be observed: do not leave a whole screen of bare text. And the first thing to take into service is the subheadings.



In general, the topic of usability is also huge. There a lot of questions arise, such as “why did the reader leave such and such a part”, “why did I close and close” and most importantly, “why didn’t I go beyond the second screen”. Quite often, small oversights become the cause, which can be corrected in half a minute. For example, the problem of header mismatch. I wrote more about her here .

In the dry residue

• don't be afraid to share your real experience
• address it to those who do not have it (beginners are the most grateful audience)
• topics need to be saved, this is not a quick process
• start writing with a specific working header (no abstractions and generalizations)
• in the structure, pull all the most interesting up (if the format allows)
• U - usability

And most importantly - writing skills are being developed, and here practice is needed.



Yes, there was an understatement in the topic of wine, on the example of which we examined the cuisine of the preparation of the post. In order not to clutter up the post, I will remove it under the spoiler.