updating a 'what's new' page

[John Kupersmith]

Linda Robinson wrote:
>I'm wondering if anyone has a good procedure for keeping track of what to 
>put on a what's new page.  ... 

Our site doesn't use a What's New page.  After looking at a number of
these, I decided that this method of organizing links wouldn't be especially 
useful for our patrons, and wouldn't serve to teach them anything about how 
the site is structured.

Instead, for about a week after it is added, the short title of each new 
item appears on the main menu in small type, along with a "NEW" graphic, 
next to the (most) appropriate section heading.  (Note: these titles are 
not links, only indicators of where to find the items).  

Also, on the page for any section to which it's added, the item is 
flagged for about a week with the same "NEW" graphic.

This is perhaps better seen than explained:  http://www.washoe.lib.nv.us/

Advantages: Patrons see immediately what is new, and can relate it
to the site structure; they can then follow the trail to the section
pages and possibly locate other relevant items as well; the "NEW" flags 
in the individual section pages make it easy to locate the new items 
when browsing.

Disadvantages: There's some hand-work involved in adding and removing
the graphics.  Since I usually add only about 3-5 items per week, it's 
not an unmanageable task to do this.  Each new item is commented with 
the date added, which makes the process go faster.

If there's a good way to do this automatically, and get the same
advantages, I'd definitely like to know more about it!
--jk





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  John Kupersmith                          jkup at washoe.lib.nv.us
  Internet Services Librarian        http://www.washoe.lib.nv.us
  Washoe County Library                     voice:  702-785-4137
  301 South Center St., Reno, NV 89501        fax:  702-785-4087
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