My organization has recently adopted an enterprise Content Management System.
For the first time, staff across 8 divisions became web authors, given
responsibility for their division's web pages. Training on the software, which
has a WYSIWYG interface for editing, is available and with practice, all are
capable of mastering the basic tools. Some simple style decisions were made for
them, however, it is extremely difficult to get these folks not to elaborate on
or improvise new styles. Examples:
making text red or another color in the belief that color will draw
readers' attention making text bold and/or italic and/or the size of a
war-is-declared headline (see 1); using images that are too small to be
effective adding a few more images that are too small to be effective
attempting to emphasize statements using ! or !! or !!!!! writing in a
too-informal tone ("Come on in outta the rain!") [We are a research
organization and museum.] feeling compelled to ornament pages with clipart,
curlicues, et al. centering everything
There is no one person in the organization with the time or authority to act as
editorial overseer. What are some techniques for ensuring that the site
maintains a clean, professional appearance?
Simon
