These are the majors.

    There are others.

        Feel free to add your own to the list.

RETURN TO CONTENTS

A Capsule History

When our website went up in the Spring of 2001, it was a scant 5 pages, consisting essentially of basic facts about the Museum;  and fourteen sundry pictures and graphics, with a sentence or three accompanying each one.

Admittedly, 'twasn't much  –  but it gave us what we were looking for (at the time), which was:  "at least a presence on the web."

In March of 2002, a sixth page was added, with links to eight external websites.   And so it remained for the next 15 months.

Neo Dies

On June 12, 2003, we decided to "augment, update, revamp, and press the pedal down on expanding" our website.   The phirst order of bizness was:  to delineate an ichnograph  —  and the first things that came up were "what we didn't want."   (Please see above "40 Things That Everybody Hates on the Web.")

Navigation.   Priority One is about navigation.   Ease of navigation.   Not frustrating one's visitors with bad navigation.   We must craft simple navigation.   Intuitive navigation.   With navigation bars, buttons, and link-triggers clearly identified, and tool-tipped  —  in all cases where the visitor might be unsure of whether it is a link or not, or, of where it's going.   This means essentially 10 things:


1. Thorough thought in site design.
2. A profusion of navigation buttons, bordering near to "excessive",  including
3. Liberal links from mid-page on one page, to mid-page on another, without having to go through 2, 3, or 10 clicks to get there.
4. A "CONTENTS" table at the top of the main (Level 1) page of every page with sub-pages and/or sub-sections.
5. A link back to the "CONTENTS" table of any page with sub-pages, and/or sub-sections, from both the bottom and top of every article on the page.
6. Snippets of info here-and-there on our pages to keep our visitors anchored to where-in-the-world they are on our site.
7. No pop-up sub-windows appearing without a very conspicuous trigger/button to close them.
8. A real INDEX to the site, with liberal synonymings, and "second-word" leaders.   Note:  The typical "Site Map" found on some sites is not an index  —  it is only a "contents", which is ordered merely by site structure.   Of course, this is easier to construct (and maintain) than an INDEX  —  but our visitors want an (alphabetized) INDEX !   Plus:
9. Relentless attention to detail in every touch of maintenance to the site.   And, of course:
10. Design consistency in every addition and/or modification, change, correction, or deletion to the site.

I know this is a tall order, but, our visitors will thank us for our consummate, painstaking, conscientious, exhaustive, vigilant, compulsive, and meticulous care in these matters, by coming back to visit us  —  again and again  —  after having left with a smile and a gleam  (rather than a frown and an ulcer).

Yes.  Content, and presentation, are also important.   But.   If we anger our visitors with unfriendly navigation, they'll not be staying long enough to see much of our "wonderful" content, and "exquisite" presentation.

There.     Fore.     We  —  at the outset  —  determined that our over-riding goal  (penchant, mantra)  would be:  impeccable navigation.   And we carved it in granite to remind ourselves that our primero design intent was, to craft: 

THE NICEST SITE YOU EVER SET A MOUSE TO

which means:  "a navigation dream."   And that meant:


• attending to the 10 items above
• avoiding the 40 items of hate

But then, after navigation concerns, we want to:


• be interesting and fun without being too wordy
• be informative
• be accurate
• use pictures where applicable
• remember that not all of our visitors are from here, which means:
  • do some dictionarial stuff
  • include geographic accoutrements  (like maps and so).   For more info, go to Geographics & Greenies.
• date stamp each page,  and individual articles
• select substance over slick
• and always remember:  Ease of Navigation is Priority One !

Site Plan Summary

This section may be both a bit redundant, and over-simplified, but we decided to put it on paper for ourselves, so we have included it also for your perusal.


General  Site  Plan


1. Low tech, but
2. Super easy to navigate
3. Highly informative
4. Short pages, but
5. Zillions of 'em
6. Uncluttered design
7. Plenty of "white space"
8. Fun
9. Laid back
10. Not pushy
11. Aesthetically pleasing
12. A nice place to spend some time

Geographics & Greenies

A good deal of Our Website tends to assume that you are of the United States, and that your primary language is English.

Of course, in the web environment, this is frequently not true.   Therefore, we have attempted to do "geographics" here-and-there in our site.   One place in particular is in our GEOGRAPHY Department.   However.   We also do pepperings of geographics elsewhere, in the hope that, by them, we might somewhat enhance your experience of our site.     Enjoy.

In addition to the geographics, we have liberally peppered our site with "greenies."   If English is not your primary language (or, maybe, even if it is) these "green-text footnotes" may be helpful to you.   Just point to a greenie to get the "note-box."

Why Frames

There are essentially 3 reasons for using frames in website design:


1. It substantially reduces page-loading time  —  after the initial Home Page has been down-loaded.
2. It greatly simplifies site development, thereby also reducing the incidence of errors in construction & content.
3. It reduces the disk space required to store the web files, on both the developer's (local) machine and the (remote) server  –  plus  –  it concomitantly requires less memory-temple on the site visitor's computer.