What do you need to run an institution’s website?

Three Tenths Of A Second . . .
Originally uploaded by evilgreg3000.
Some rights reserved.

Well, a good team is a good start…

My list of things involved in looking after an institution’s website.

• Feedback form - every page has a link which captures URL and user info and sends via a form.
• Issues tracker - I think that email should be kept clear of day-to-day site issues and update requests. So, a web-based issue tracker which automatically receives the feedback and other system notifications (such as additions to database-generated pages) would be a good idea.
• Project management software - web based tasks etc. Sharepoint was good for this. A basic but easy to use system that allows lightwieght project management.
• Weekly Work-in-Progress meetings.
• Structure page - very useful for internal people to see the departmental structure.
• PageBuilder - this is a (bespoke) utility that builds pages - fast template rollout and prototyping is crucial
• Menu system - standardise by giving the webauthors an easy to use system that makes their job easier
• Web stats - got to be able to see what’s happening
• SEO stats - WebCEO is good idea, but seems flaky in execution.
• Tools: All the usuals (macromedia/adobe suites, even Frontpage!) and Xenu link checker. Firefox plus extensions.
• Hardware: Colour laser printer, blutack, whiteboards, two screens.
• Test bench - old PCs and macs with appropriate browsers

…more to come I’m sure.