[thelist] Am I being BS'd?

[martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com]

Memo from Martin P Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers

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'Rarely' is the right word.

It *can* be done, provided:

1) The pages are to a strict template that users understand
2) The template is very simple (header brought in by an include, navigation
(include) and
      content area - the content area's the only one users can touch), and
the presentation
    layer is controlled by a stylesheet which users can't edit
3) You provide training for the users (a day's worth could do it)
4) You provide a strict style-guide for the users
5) You provide support for the users (telephone help mostly, but a lot of
documentation too,
    plus encouraging users to help each other)
6) You monitor what people are doing regularly and strictly enforce it (in
a supportive
    way, but you're still after compliance at the end of the day)
7) You make very clear that you are not responsible for their end result,
and are
    simply there to help them do it for themselves (essential CYA) - get
them to take
    pride in their output.

This assumes you care about the visual result btw - if empowering people to
just get their
content out there is more important, you may choose a different approach.

Cheers
Martin
(who used to run a very large, devolved intranet with several hundred smart
but non-technical
users editing their own departmental sites using FP98)


Subject:  RE: [thelist] Am I being BS'd?


The idea that you can build a site and then let unskilled people make
updates using Frontpage rarely works out well, in my experience. Janet
would
do better to look into one of those html editors people were referencing a
few threads back.


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