[thelist] Request For Comments (+ tips)

Katherine Spice k.spice at acu.ac.uk
Fri Nov 10 09:28:53 CST 2000


Here's the deal:

Internal departmental changes mean that soon our site will be out of
date, and I'm hoping to take this opportunity to do a (IMO much needed)
redesign.  However I have to go to a "Strategic Management Meeting"
(read 4 technology dinosaurs, 1 Finance Director who complains at
_anything_ involving money, and my boss (IT director) on monday and
convince them that the site needs changing. The reason this may pose
problems is because the site is comparatively new (18 months or so) and
was designed by a contractor (at considerable expense!) before I was
hired.  The other reason is that they (with the exception on my boss)
think it looks great!  It suffered greatly from internal politics when
it was designed and they can't see how that's made it really difficult
to use if you don't know our corporate structure.

The URL is http://www.acu.ac.uk/

What I'd really like is comments on it's usability that I can take as
ammunition, or just bear in mind when I do the redesign.  If you're
glutton for punishment you could try looking for a) the application form
for the British Marshall Scholarships and b) the application form for
British Academy/ACU Grants for International Collaboration and tell me
how far you get.

I already intend to get rid of the frames but I'm not sure about CSS
'cause a lot of our audience use v3 Netscape/IE (around 50%).

The other part is:

I'm considering proposing an interactive news/comments area as the home
page (like /. for academics) but I know that senior staff here currently
wouldn't use that kind of site.  Does anyone else work (or used to work)
in an academic environment? If so, are my lot typical of the average
academic, or do your think this might just fly? I would be proposing a
news area we update daily with the option to comment or submit your own
story.

Sorry for the long post - I know it's a bit much for a friday!
TIA,
Katherine

Tips:

<tip type="Perl Resources">
The best Perl book you will ever buy has to be "Perl Cookbook" -
O'Reilly ISBN 1-56592-243-3.  It has a recipe for every situation, and
great explanations.
</tip>

<tip type="Apache Resources">
The Apache Server Adminstrators Handbook by M. J. Kabir ISBN
0-7645-3306-1 is the best apache book I've ever used.  It walks you
though the httpd.conf, covers common tasks and more indepth stuff, but
is organized so you can find the bit you need without needing to read 5
other chapters first.
</tip>




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