Keywords
Citation
Hanlon, S. (2002), "Archival Web Sites: A Guide to Creating, Designing, Marketing and Maintaining a Web Site for Archive Services", Records Management Journal, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 65-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/rmj.2002.12.2.65.1
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited
This publication, although aimed principally at archivists, contains a wealth of practical advice that would be useful to any information professional creating a Web site for the first time, or anyone involved in the management and development of existing Web sites. The author is very clear in the introduction about what the guidelines are not. They are not a rigid set of rules, nor an instructional guide to HTML or any other Web authoring technology. As the author states, there are numerous sources for training and guidelines in these areas. The author emphasises the dynamic nature of Web site design – a view which is reinforced throughout.
The guidelines focus on practical Web site design and planning issues. The author begins by outlining the resources required for creating and maintaining a Web site, and providing guidance on planning and setting objectives for the Web site. Some useful tools are given to enable effective planning.
The author then goes on to consider, in detail, Web site content, structure, navigation, design, security and legal issues, marketing and publicity and site maintenance. The section on content is, appropriately to the profession, the most detailed. The importance of identifying the purpose of the Web site is stressed, and useful pointers relating to the collection of content are provided. This is just the sort of thing, which can be difficult to find in other publications. The author provides extensive checklists, some of which are grouped according to the stage of development of the Web site. There are checklists on home page content, basic content, further content and advanced content, all reflecting the dynamic nature of the Web environment.
The advice given in the guideline reflects established principles relating to human computer interaction principles, as espoused by Nielsen (2000) and others. There are some useful Web links provided towards the end. These include links to guidelines on standards, such as the government’s public sector guidelines, the W3 Consortium and Dublin Core metadata standards.
All sections of the guideline provide essential information in a practical and understandable way. They reflect the fact that Web sites need continued attention long after the initial creation of the site. The author is very clear about which areas are outside the scope of the guideline and require more advanced technical skills, to implement those features. However, a successful Web site with effective functionality can clearly be created and maintained, even without the use of advanced technical skills, if the focus remains firmly based on meeting user needs. In this case, the author has particularly focussed on archivists’ needs and those of their users.
The author has clearly achieved this with a very useful, practical aid to effective Web site design.
Reference
Nielsen, J. (2000), Designing Web Usability, New Riders, Indianapolis, IN.