New England in The Fall
 
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
     Today was spent finalizing my proposal for the NEQM web site.  I have a semi-formal proposal that states the benefits of going to the new software.  I included the benefits of using Weebly, such as automatic mobile sites (phones, ipads, etc.), ease of use, local backup capability, templates, HTML editing capability, multiple editor capability, and other features. Web development has come so far since I first learned HTML and Dreamweaver five years ago.  In my proposal, I also provided financial details and a comparison to their existing host. Using weebly will cut their hosting costs by two-thirds.  Since they have now made the decision not to do e-commerce, the monthly fee for merchant services will go away too.
     Earlier this week, I sent Maureen and Polly "permissions" to edit the NEQM test weebly site that I set up.  I was eager to get some feedback from them.  Maureen spent some time last night playing with it and loved it.  She added content to pages including text and images.  She said she learned how to use these features in about 20 minutes.  How could it get any better than that? I went over my proposal with Maureen and we had a great discussion about what the possibilities could be.  I think Weebly will offer her the ease of use she wants and the flexibility she needs to keep the site fresh.  I am also confident that Weebly will continue to develop functionality. 
     Through this process, I have a lot of research on Weebly.  They are amazing.  Long story short, it's a start-up that began with an assignment at Penn State University.  The three developers submitted an application to Y-Combinator, and were selected to come to the Silicon Valley and work among the best. They were literally down the street from Google, Yahoo, and others.  When Y-Combinator invited them to present their concept to potential investors, someone came forward with a buy-our offer which they declined.  However, Weeby also found investors who were willing to fund them.  People like Paul Buccheit, who developed gmail and later sold it to Google, were among the believers.  So, they were off and running. They turned a profit in less than a year. 
     Today Weebly is supporting 8 million users, continuing to develop new functions,  and helping to make the world of website development accessible to average folks.  They have been written about in the Wall Street Journal; Newsweek wrote about them in their 2007 article "Meet the Next Billionaires;" they were named in Time Magazines' 2007 50 Best Websites, and well, shall I go on?  When some one at the museum voiced concerns about whether Weebly will continue to be a viable business, my immediate thought was, "when someone like Google offers to buy them, will they take the money and run, or will they keep their independence and go it alone?"  I have read reviews where they are favorably compared with Wordpress and Tumbler.  Weebly is only six years old. 
    After I spent most of the day orienting Maureen to Weebly and the third party enhancements that were available, she agreed it was the best approach to take for the NEQM future website needs.  We met with NEQM Director Connie Barlow and she agreed with our recommendation.  This will result is moving from our existing web host to Weebly as a web host.  Since our existing host also manages our email, we will have to decide who we want to use for email going forward.  We agreed to make the switch on January 1.  That gives NEQM plenty of time to load content, and to feature the next Exhibition which will open in mid-January.  It's a GO!




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    Cindy DeLong

    Hi!   I 'm working on my MA in Textile History with an emphasis in Quilt Studies at the University of Nebraska.  I have been fortunate enough to land an internship with the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts.  This blog is about my great adventure! 

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