Hi, all--

I'm chiming in a bit late as well.  I just wanted to add another comment or 
two from the web designer's perspective.  I've had success designing web 
sites using Dreamweaver and then turning over maintenance to the staff 
after--and this is the key step--*after* giving them additional training 
(written into the contract).  In particular, I set them up with another 
Macromedia product called Macromedia Contribute, which gives them a simple 
interface with their web site and allows someone with that minimal training 
to maintain the pages.  That way the staff doesn't need to be HTML experts 
themselves, nor do they have to go through the trouble of learning a 
relatively complicated web editing program such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage. 
Contribute is inexpensive and usually gives them the content control they're 
looking for to make daily/weekly changes.

I also wanted to echo the earlier comment to be careful of a designer who 
wants to produce a slick Flash-driven site for you.  Flash breaks one of the 
cardinal rules of good web design, that users should always be able to tell 
where they've been (not to mention the accessibility hazards it poses, as 
others have mentioned).  Without links that change colors or the like, it's 
very easy to forget whether you've visited a particular page.  Flash has its 
place, no question, but designers need to be judicious in their approach and 
remember that it is always content that drives design and not vice-versa. 
Just as in the real world, visitors come to see the content of the site--and 
all the fancy paint schemes and signage in the world won't keep them there 
if the exhibits are empty.

I'm always leery of entrusting too much to a volunteer, unless it's somebody 
who has proven themselves over the long haul--it's too easy to let paying 
gigs or the rest of life distract somebody from maintaining something that 
they are doing "only" as a volunteer.  I've been that volunteer, and I know 
that I didn't do as good a job as I should have--lesson learned.  Even if 
you pay minimally, you should consider paying--so that you establish that 
this is something you value.  A contract should be drawn up that reinforces 
your expectations.

It helps if the folks charged with hiring a web designer (whether it's a 
pro, a student, or whatnot) have some general grounding on what makes good 
site design.  I recommend web usability guru Jakob Nielsen at 
http://www.useit.com/ for guidance on a host of web usability questions 
(good design principles, navigation principles, etc.).

Hope this helps!  I love this stuff.

All my best,

--Eric

Eric D. M. Johnson
Proprietor
The Village Factsmith Historical Research & Consulting, and
The Cybernetick Inkwell Web Design & Development
http://www.factsmith.com/
[log in to unmask]


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lori Yeager" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2005 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Museum Website


> Hi Mike,
>
> I haven't been able to keep up with all of the advice
> that others have given you so far so maybe someone has
> already suggested this.
> But do you have a college with either a Visual
> Communications/Technology or Graphic Design (or even
> just a Web Page Design certificate program at a local
> high school, technical school, or community college)
> program? If so, you could get ahold of either the head
> of the program or an adviser and speak with them about
> what you are thinking of for a website. Maybe you
> could either work with them on getting an intern, a
> co-op student (these kids are often highly supervised
> by their professors), or even an entire class to work
> on your website and maintaining it. This might be a
> good way to get cheap (or free) work and plus some
> fresh new ideas and technology for your web presence.
> We are currently going through this route and while
> the site is not quite finished yet, our co-op student
> has some really good ideas and things have been going
> by pretty smoothly so far.
>
>
> --- "Simons, Michael A. (Contr)"
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> I am trying to convince my board of the need for a
>> better web presence.  I'd like to see what regional
>> museums in the $100,000-500,000 operating budget
>> range were able to put together.  I am more
>> interested in museums that could not rely on local
>> goverments for assistance.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
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