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Historical Society Web Page Design Suggestions
Hello,
My name is Dale Stenseth.
I share your interest in history.
I want to express my appreciation for your dedication and effort. You provide so many history resources for so many people. Thank you for your work.
I see some great history pages out there. I see many that aren't so hot.
Following are some recommendations to make your web pages more user friendly.
1. Show your address on your home page. Many home pages show this near the top.
2. Include 'About', 'Membership', and 'Contact' pages on your website. Make it easy for people to know about you, to contribute to you, and to contact you. Make sure your contact page has, not only your email address, but also your physical address, phone number, and fax. If appropriate, include directions.
3. Tell us what resources you have.
What publications do you have for sale?
What photos do you have?
Tell us about your research capabilities.
Tell us about your museums, libraries, archives, and events.
4. Make sure your home page loads fast. 'Fast' is 1 second over a 56k dial-up connection. Perhaps your web designer has impressive razzle-dazzle effects, but people won't wait. We just don't want to see 'cute' special effects on your home page. Don't make me load 'Flash'. Keep it simple. The Sesame Street generation (my children) will just not wait for it to load.
A very common mistake is to have pictures or graphics with more detail than can be displayed on a web page.
5. Test your pages on, at least, Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Mozilla browsers.
6. Following are links to 4 state historical societies that have some or all of these characteristics:
State Historical Society of North Dakota
Virginia Historical Society
Vermont Historical Society
Rhode Island Historical Society
Email me if you would like specific suggestions for your pages. I am not a web designer or developer, and I do not hold out my home pages as good examples, except that they are simple and load quickly.
These style reference links might also be helpful to you.
WEB STYLE GUIDE, 2nd edition
W3C Style Guide for online hypertext
[email protected]
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Copyright © 2002-2005 Dale Stenseth. All rights reserved.
This page may be freely linked to, but may not be duplicated in any manner without the author's express consent.
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