How to track what I need to do on the work website?

May 16, 2006 7:05 PM

What methods and processes can I use to manage the content of a university-school website?

In my job, I have inherited a messy website that is driven by a content management database system. I am not a webdesigner and luckily need no knowledge of HTML. There are over 300 pages and I've done a lot of thinking in how to restructure so that nothing goes deeper than 4 clicks.

What I need is a systematic way of keeping pages up to date. I can not spend any money on this, cannot buy software. I'm thinking maybe a form system that I keep in a binder for each page with a date tickler? Someone's surely invented this wheel. What information would I put in the binder?

Also, what would be really nice, would be a set of standards that everyone knows but no-one can tell me, like "don't have headings in capitals." A style guide if you will, for websites, like a naming convention for all the PDFs (there's over 300 that are over 18 months old and I don't know who I should ask if I should keep it, like this one: topic4.pdf)

I don't know what I don't know (I am only an end user) - what do I need to know? Thank you very much in advance.

posted by b33j to computers & internet (13 comments total)

The way you phrased your question makes it slightly confusing. You are restructuring it on the web, right? What sort of server are you using? Is there a name for the content management system currently being used or is it proprietary?

Would you have permission to replace or modify the current CMS?

Do you have any experience installing web-based server applications?

Any system you need to keep track and update files (called CVS, typically used for software development) is available via open source applications for FREE.
posted by tweak at 9:41 PM on May 16, 2006

b33j obviously ain't up to downloading the nightly CVS and installing patches.

b33j, you are out of your depth. To "restructure" a CMS website can mean simple adjustments of link and page hierarchies inside the CMS control interface, or as complex as needing to completely reinstall and redesign the entire thing. You probably need to stick with whatever CMS you've got or you will have a devil of a time moving 300 current pages over to the database of a new CMS.

But the fact that you don't know what CMS it is (or know any HTML, which even if you don't need if for a basic CMS installation you would know in your sleep if you had the chops to take on this project) indicates that you need more help than AskMe can offer.

A lot of good stuff on the same problem in this AskMe thread.

What you don't know you don't know can create chaos for the guy who has to fix it after you play around for a while. Seriously. And tinkering around inside the server guts of your site can create security risks and holes if you don't know what you are doing.
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:10 PM on May 16, 2006

Thank you for answering.

The thing/software/online content management system I am using does allow me to change all content below the top page. It is a university wide system and I have no leeway in it's structure at all. Basically, I get to type content into little windows like this, and click radio boxes to indicate which page the one I'm operating on should fall under. (am i making sense?).

There are so many things on the entire site, courses (>50) and course notes and programs and staff and about the school and how to access the other campus and research documents and timetables and it's not structured logically.

I've worked out how to structure it logically but I need a method to remind me to update pages periodically (and different periods - weekly, yearly, semester-based, after a conference ends), to check external links (no, i can not use other software, i have to do this by hand).

So back to your questions. Yes, I am restructuring it on the web. I don't know what kind of server. I believe the content management system is proprietary. No, I would not have permission to modify or replace the CMS. No I have no experience installing web-based server applications.

CVS? I will start looking this up. Thank you for a start. Not knowing the terminology keeps giving me very strange search results.

Unfortunately, I can not directly have whatever management system I use connected to the online content management system. I have asked for help from the university people in charge of this, and they varyingly said, study for 20 years and you'll know what I know, you don't need to know that, you need a writer - we can find one for you and charge you accordingly. (I'm not allowed to know for example where my hits come from - apparently that's irrelevant).

The reason my posts are confusing is because I'm confused.
posted by b33j at 10:18 PM on May 16, 2006

My last response was for tweak. this is for fourcheesemac.

Indeed I am out of my depth. Perhaps I used the wrong terminology when I used the word restructure. Let me restate the problem.

I know what the website is supposed to communicate and I have worked out a better way to lay out that data. The online content management system (which I have had training in) is such that a doofus like me can operate it efficently.

My problem is I need to create a separate system for tracking and updating information. This perhaps shouldn't be a computer question but an organisational technique. I have 300 things (pages) that I need to look at on different days. What's the best way to do that?
posted by b33j at 10:25 PM on May 16, 2006

I have 300 things (pages) that I need to look at on different days. What's the best way to do that?

Suppose you get some sort of calendar app to fire off a reminder and tell you to look at the pages needed on a given day. It's not clear to me whether your problem is more about deciding which pages you need to look at or where to find those pages once you know you need to look at them...clarify?
posted by juv3nal at 10:55 PM on May 16, 2006

One half of the question
I'm looking for the most efficient way to ensure that I update pages in a timely manner.

I can probably enter each page id into my calendar with a reminder of what to look for. page X = check for external links, page Y = check that staff member is still current, document Z = remove course notes PDF and link as it is end of semester.

It's not a very transportable system though, and should someone else have to take on the task, I don't know how to move that stuff out of MS Inbox. It seems unweildy. Everything I've considered seems unweildy, i think because of the size.

The other half of my question - style guide - i have found a number of resources to help me with.
posted by b33j at 11:04 PM on May 16, 2006

It's not a very transportable system though, and should someone else have to take on the task, I don't know how to move that stuff out of MS Inbox.


You could create a new google profile (with corresponding google calender & gmail account) just for this purpose which would allow you to just pass on the entire profile to someone else if you needed to. But I know some people (read: organisations run by said people) are leery of google having their information, so that may not be viable for you. If it is viable, at least you have transportability down even if it's still unwieldy.

My guess is that it might be unwieldy no matter what you choose to do, although I think that has less to do with size and more to do with the fact that you have no control over how it's organized.
posted by juv3nal at 11:17 PM on May 16, 2006

b33j, sounds like a tough job to manage all that stuff - thanks for answering my questions because it narrows down what would constitute good suggestions.

CVS stands for Concurrent Version System, it's used by software developers (and web developers with huge numbers of files) to identify what needs to be done and to log changes. However, it's enough of a niche that nobody has developed AND hosted a web-based CVS. You either have to install one on your computer, network, or website by yourself. But it might be a workable solution if you have so much to manage.

Gmail/google calendar are a good idea, but I would also suggest BaseCamp.*

You can store documents on it, make to-do lists (with due dates), set milestones for projects, and there is a calendar. I'm not sure how powerful the free version is but it might be worth at least looking at. It runs entirely online and there is a pretty handy writeboard as well. Unfortunately, it might not scale very well if you can't afford to do a plan that costs money.

Another alternative to Gmail/Google calendar would be the Yahoo! email and calendar service which has gotten pretty good over the past few years. The Yahoo! stuff syncs with a bunch of scheduling software and PDAs (Outlook, Outlook Express, Palm OS, Pocket PC, Lotus Organizer, ACT!). For instance you could setup a PDA to download the calendar and have a little beep go off every day when something needs changed - along with the notes you would need right in front of you on the PDA. Further, on Yahoo!, calendars are shareable with friends, and 'Special Friends' (heh) can edit the calendar as well. So you could create accounts such as UniversityWebEditor1, 2, 3, and so on.

The hard part will be figuring out how to actually catalogue the individual pages in a format that works, but it looks like you are going in the right direction.

In any case, whatever you do, try to not use a binder or other paper-based format. You want something that is portable and easy to duplicate or pass-on, and a binder sounds like a pain to edit or thumb through.

Good luck!

*This is the second time I've recommended BaseCamp on AskMefi but I feel it's a good app
posted by tweak at 2:01 AM on May 17, 2006

oh, and I would add 'CMS' and 'contentmanagement' as tags to this question, you know, for the benefit of others :-)
posted by tweak at 2:02 AM on May 17, 2006

I've done a lot of thinking in how to restructure so that nothing goes deeper than 4 clicks.

Can I ask why?

That kind of thinking is regarded as outmoded in the web-development circles in which I move.

People get to web pages by a huge variety of methods, and navigating by a number of clicks from the front page is probably way way in the minority. Plus, it doesn't matter if it's four or eight clicks, as long as the path is logical and the navigation helps you understand where you are and what your options are.

You might be better off working on redesigning navigation? Or search engine optimisation? Or installing or improving your own search engine? Again, it's a common assumption that half the people who are looking for something on your site will do it by browsing, i.e. clicking, and the other half will want to do it by searching.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:08 AM on May 17, 2006

I keep track of the pages on our corporate web site using an Excel spreadsheet as described (and downloadable from) this article: http://adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000040.php
The spreadsheet keeps track of each page within the hierarchy of the site, whom you need to nag for updated content, and how often the content needs to be updated. You can, of course, add fields for other information as needed. It's tediuous to set up but not difficult to maintain. Resist the temptation to make copies of the spreadsheet for others. Put it on a shared drive and point people to it as needed, so that multiple versions aren't floating around. You can use the spreadsheet in conjunction with a calendar-based tickler system as several people have noted above.
posted by Joleta at 10:20 AM on May 17, 2006 [1 favorite]

You also might want to get a little more familiar with writing your own HTML. Then you can create a meta-level of personal pages which link to your 300 pages in chunks that make sense to you and your content management agenda.
posted by macinchik at 12:31 PM on May 17, 2006

Thanks all.

I am studying via Multimedia Studies via distance education so as to round up these gaps in my knowledge. Unfortunately, I work for an organisation, that while it pays well, does not accept change easily, nor innovation.

I will reconsider my 4 click thing but apparently the majority of the people accessing our site are low IT-literacy who don't tend to search (wtf?) making the programs and courses information more easily accessible is, i think, a reasonable goal.
posted by b33j at 6:43 PM on May 17, 2006