When the Glenbow Museum redeveloped our corporate website, we moved the entire site to Macromedia Contribute. While this is not a low cost product (prices vary depending on the number of licenses) it's a professional tool that serves our needs well while not draining our IT staff with bugs and frequent web updates. It's designed to be used by non-tech staff members - shifting web content responsibility from IT to the content experts across the organization.
To answer some of your questions: # of html pages converted - probably close to 300. We have even transferred all of the archives finding aids to Contribute! An archivist uses Contribute to updated and create new finding aids. All or part of site - all except for the database drive pages (archives, library and collection searches). Features most important - Flexible templates. I find we need page templates to control major styles and formats such as banner, navigation, main content space and promo areas. However, you need enough flexibility within the main content area to accommodated various content format (i.e. imaged, tables, lists, just plain text, etc). It's easier in the long run if these content formats are "assets" you can add to any page vs. page templates themselves. Skill levels of staff using - with one or two training sessions, most non-tech staff members grasp the basics of using Contribute and are able to make web updates on their own. You do need a more technical savvy person to act as an administrator and final approver before updates go live. Platforms - We only use it for PCs. Conversion done in-house or outsourced - outsourced to web development firm over a year ago. Since then we have been able to maintain the software in-house with very few problems. General experiences - We have been Contribute for a little more than a year and overall, we are very happy with it. HR takes care of posting jobs, marketing takes care of media releases, and programmers take care of the calendar pages. Staff members take ownership of their section and they see the value of web content. Cherry Sham New Media Coordinator Tel: (403) 268--4132 Fax: (403) 265--9769 Email: csham at glenbow.org www.glenbow.org ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[mcn.edu] Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 8:23 AM To: JKetterer at indianahistory.org; Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] Content Management Systems We are looking into moving all or parts of our website to a CMS and I was wondering if anyone has done a survey recently of the experiences of museums/cultural institutions that have been down this road. I'd be most interested in the following info: Open source vs. low cost commercial (<$10000) # of html pages converted All or part of site Features most important Level of customization Skill levels of staff using Platforms Conversion done in-house or outsourced General experiences Thanks, Jim Ketterer Senior Director, Information Technology Indiana Historical Society www.indianahistory.org 317-233-6482 jketterer at indianahistory.org _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
