Bucknell Web Development

I've been thinking about expectations, specifically expectations for Bucknell's new CMS -- my own, and those of the many people on campus who will be using our system. Is it better to have high expectations (and risk disappointment), following the career advice to dress-for-the-job-you-want-not-the-job-you-have? Aim high! Dream big! Expect the most out of yourself and those around you. Or is it better to have low expectations (expect the worst), so that anything else will feel like a success. No place to go but up!

And exactly what do I mean by which approach is better? Do I mean which approach is safer, or which approach will yield better results? By setting our sights high do we push ourselves to achieve more? Or do we limit the possible outcomes by having such a clearly
defined set of expectations? On the flip side, by keeping our expectations modest, have we clipped our wings before we've even tried flying? Or are we keeping the possibilities wide open

The prudent thing to do would be to keep our expectations realistic. Expect some improvement over the current situation. Expect the new system to be better but not fantastic. Expect that working on web pages will be easier but not easy. But this sounds about as inspirational as reading the ingredients on a cereal box.

So here's what I expect of the new CMS:

• it will be simple to navigate
• the interface will be clear and compelling
• making links will be a matter of browsing, dragging and dropping
• the system will process changes rapidly (no more heading to the coffee pot while the page processes!)
• we'll be able to drag and drop content from Word into the CMS
• we'll be able to preview the pages before publishing them
• there will be context sensitive help available
• the workflows will work!

What the new CMS won't do?

• it won't create good web content for you (yes, you still have to write for the web!)
• it won't allow you create a new design for your section of the website
• it won't do complex web programming (that's we the web team is here for
• it won't create graphics or multimedia for you (that's what the web team is for)
• it won't turn you into a web professional, but it will assist you in creating professional looking web pages

I don't know if these expectations are high, low or realistic. Maybe they're a combination of all three approaches. But I'm excited to get started. I'm going to take the optimistic and open-minded approach: expect a lot and stay open to learning and changing.

As we get ready to move our website (over 13,000 pages) into a new WCM system, I've been thinking a lot about content. We've spent considerable time on design & navigation issues, and the tools for creating websites, but in comparison, we've spent only minimal time tending to the actual content that we're posting. The more I scrutinize our website, the more certain I am that we simply have too much content, too many pages with long blocks of text that we're originally written for a brochure or some other printed publication.

We need to turn our attention to what information we're posting. The Web Development Team recently offered a "Writing for the Web" workshop. Enrollment was higher than we expected, which confirms for me that the time is right for us to concentrate on content. It's time to weed the garden. Clean house. Or maybe a "relocation" metaphor is more apt. Remember the last time you moved to a new home or apartment? You didn't just pack up everything you owned and move it. You cleaned and sorted and threw things away. That's what we have the opportunity to do. Even though it's possible that we could import our entire website into our new WCM, that might not be the best thing.

I think it's time for us to clean out our closets and drawers, to streamline, and take a good hard look at what's worth packing up in boxes and what's just baggage that we've been dragging around.