Websites: How to have one and keep it up-to-date
At Voluntary Action Camden (VAC), we are often approached by groups who already have a website, wanting advice and support on how to keep it up to date. Many want to know if we can offer them training in website design so that they can manage the content of their site themselves, and we are often asked questions such as:
“How difficult would it be for us to update our own website?” “How much would it cost us to own and update our own website as opposed to hiring someone outside to do it?” “Do we need a specialist graphics package to update our site?” “What package would you recommend given that we don’t have a budget for this?”
The answer to these questions is far from simple. It is, obviously, not good enough to have a website with old and outdated information about your organisation, and a website with information that has passed its ‘sell by’ date can adversely affect an organisation.
Users, quite justifiably, see maintaining a website as a task that you could, for example, do in MS Word and in fact this would be possible, given the right tools. The actual task need not be more complex than this provided there is a Content Management System (CMS) in use. A CMS is a programme that lets you update the content of your site easily, and, importantly, without your having to have specialist knowledge of web design or a graphics package.
The private sector has been deploying proprietary Content Management Systems (many of which come at a high cost) for a few years now. In the voluntary sector, however, most small organisations have not been able to afford this option.
The alternative of using Free Open Source Software (FOSS) for website authoring updates has now become a real option. There are many such tools available, like WordPress and Drupal that we have been looking into more closely. WordPress is recommended for informational websites for smaller groups with a simpler content and it is easier to set up and learn, while bigger organisations with a more complex structure could use Drupal, which is harder to set up initially and more difficult to learn. The ICT Outreach Project at VAC is currently working with four volunteers from Birkbeck College who will be designing websites for small organisations using WordPress.
For a complete list of available CMSs see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and search for Content Management Systems.
Both WordPress and Drupal, which offer web authoring, have many elements of a CMS built into them and can be configured for easy updating of web pages by non-technical people.
The design of a website is based on a kind of a template called a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) which defines all the design elements of a website such as the colour scheme, the navigation system and the style of headings and text. This will always be created by a web designer and is not expected to be changed or modified by users. Using a CSS means that every single page will be based on it, allowing for a consistent design as well as ease of updating. The design aspect of a website will normally stay the same for a few years until there is a need to revamp it. If there is a need to make small changes, only the design template (the CSS) needs to be modified.
With a CSS (template) in place users can then update the information on their pages using the CMS that comes with their chosen package in a way very similar to editing a word document.
The key issue here is to see the two elements of a website, the design side and the content side, as two completely separate entities. What we can see is that once the design is in place, it is increasingly possible for groups to manage the content side of it themselves.
For further information please contact VAC's ICT Outreach Project:
Mary Sakho
T: 020 7284 6573
E: Mary Sakho
Page last updated: July 1, 2008
