Tuesday, October 25, 2011
It's back to work at the museum today! Play time is over. There is a web site to build! I have spend this week, Tuesday through Friday in meetings discussing the new NEQM web site and researching technology for building it. I seriously considered Drupal because it offers so much flexibility and that type of modular approach is the wave of the future. But Drupal is pretty intense and the learning curve is pretty big. I would need someone to help me, and/or some training materials that would have to be purchased. The museum has no budget for that.
I looked at some other web builders, which quite frankly are everywhere -- all over the net. Some of them look pretty good, but they all seem to require that you host with the company offering the web builder. I don't think it's wise to get locked into a hosting company. Things change, and we can't predict what the museum's web needs will be in two or three years. I don't want them to be in a position where they are forced into making changes they may not want to make.
It's back to work at the museum today! Play time is over. There is a web site to build! I have spend this week, Tuesday through Friday in meetings discussing the new NEQM web site and researching technology for building it. I seriously considered Drupal because it offers so much flexibility and that type of modular approach is the wave of the future. But Drupal is pretty intense and the learning curve is pretty big. I would need someone to help me, and/or some training materials that would have to be purchased. The museum has no budget for that.
I looked at some other web builders, which quite frankly are everywhere -- all over the net. Some of them look pretty good, but they all seem to require that you host with the company offering the web builder. I don't think it's wise to get locked into a hosting company. Things change, and we can't predict what the museum's web needs will be in two or three years. I don't want them to be in a position where they are forced into making changes they may not want to make.
Finally, I think I have found something that will work well. Joomla! is similar to Drupal, but not as high level. It requires no coding knowledge, although you can alter the code for certain effects if you know how. The web has an abundance of teaching tools and videos that are all free. I have a host that caters to Joomla! and will give support for Joomla! sites in addition to the support they offer for hosting. I have watched some videos and started building a test site to see how the system works. I like the idea of being able to add extensions and endless functionality. I think it will help the museum keep their site fresh as time goes along.
I am also helping the museum librarian, Martha Supnik, find software that will allow their book database to be searched on-line from the web site. This library has many thousands of books. They lend to museum members. They also have a perpetual yard sale. Any books donated to the library that are duplicates are for sale for $5 or $10. So far, we are still in the software learn and search mode. Martha has found a library package she thinks she might like, but isn't sure. She would like to test it out before committing. I found that the Guggenheim Museum uses both Joomla! and the library software she likes. Maybe that will help her decide. I was really hoping she would like a Joomla! extension that was designed for a library search. Unfortunately, she really didn't care for it, although I thought it had all the function she needs.
I am also helping the museum librarian, Martha Supnik, find software that will allow their book database to be searched on-line from the web site. This library has many thousands of books. They lend to museum members. They also have a perpetual yard sale. Any books donated to the library that are duplicates are for sale for $5 or $10. So far, we are still in the software learn and search mode. Martha has found a library package she thinks she might like, but isn't sure. She would like to test it out before committing. I found that the Guggenheim Museum uses both Joomla! and the library software she likes. Maybe that will help her decide. I was really hoping she would like a Joomla! extension that was designed for a library search. Unfortunately, she really didn't care for it, although I thought it had all the function she needs.
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