[WEB4LIB] Re: browser back button

[John Creech]

On Thu, 12 Oct 2000, Tami-Jo M. Eckley wrote:

> Incidentally, I am
> also the person who brought up the "splash" page concept a few weeks
> back and our development staff was not willing to create a custom
> template for the library to use on all of our pages so, we will have
> to use this "splash page" concept. 

Hi Tammi-Jo.  I didn't follow the splash page discussion thoroughly but
wanted to respond to this.  Our web authors have been using a series of
templates for our website for about 4 years, and I believe that some kind
of uniformity is critical to a successful site. It keeps our look uniform
so that the patron always knows that she or he is in our website.  It
makes it easier for our authors to begin construction of new pages.

We've updated our site to html 4.0/CSS and added server side includes
(SSI) - of text files only, no cgi scripts - which really has helped us
out.  The SSI allow us to make global changes on our website quickly.  
The combination of style sheets, SSI and templates has greatly simplified
maintenance, updating, and improving our site.

It's a shame your folks won't go for templates.  It definitely simplifies
work flow and cuts down on going back to fix problems later.  And frankly,
it cuts down on people branding a professional library site w/
personalized additions such as font and color choices etc. that, while
desired by the page author, may not be in keeping with the university's
library website.

John Creech
Electronic Resources & Systems Librarian
Central Washington University Library 
400 E. 8th Ave. | Ellensburg, WA 98926 | 
office - 509-963-1081 || fax - 509-963-3684
creechj at www.lib.cwu.edu