Kieran Cooper explains why database-driven websites should mean that out-of-date content is a thing of the past
This web page is out of date
I?m sure you?re familiar with the feeling you get when you go to a website to find some information, only to discover that some or all of it is out of date. You can?t help but feel slightly cheated ? especially if the organisation you were seeking out is one that you felt you had some kind of relationship with.
On the other hand, if you?re the one with responsibility for your organisation?s website, you?ll also be acutely aware of how difficult it is to keep your site up to date, on top of the million and one other tasks you have to contend with. And even if you can find the time, it?s not always easy to find someone with enough technical knowledge and skills to enable you to make the amendments you want. This is a problem that affects any company that uses the web, but it seems to afflict the arts sector particularly badly. This is partly because of the resource implications, but also because arts organisations are often used to producing a brochure and then not having to update anything until it?s time for the next one. This may work for print, but it?s no good at all for the web.
Needless to say, technology has an answer! In the early days of the web, all pages had to be built in HTML (the language that describes how the page is to be laid out). They would look the same, and contain the same information every time anybody looked at them ? they were ?static?, to use the jargon. If changes needed to be made, then the HTML had to be edited, and for a big site with lots of changing information, this was a major undertaking. These days, a vast number of websites are built using ?dynamic? pages ? that is, the information that is to be displayed is held in a database and the page is newly built for each person that requests to see it. This means that the content can be tailored to each visitor to the site. For example, a site can be designed to show only those events that have not yet taken place, or to include up-to-the minute news. Furthermore, a piece of Internet magic known as ?cookies? can record a visitor?s details so that the website recognises them when they return to the site, and content can be tailored to suit their preferences ? for example, the type of show they usually attend can be displayed ahead of other information on the page.
Aside from the advantages this gives to the customers viewing the site, there are benefits to the organisation behind the scenes. Because such dynamic systems generally allow the updating of information through a more user-friendly interface, there isn?t the same need for technical nous so content can be changed easily and quickly by anyone who can use a computer.
So why are more people not using this kind of technology in the arts? The answer tends to relate to cost, as these sites are generally more expensive to set up, even though the ongoing benefits are significant. There are also a lot of web designers around who are competent with HTML but don?t know how to build database sites (and indeed, often don?t want to for fear that it will reduce their potential for ongoing work). But as more and more off-the-shelf content management packages come along, there are fewer barriers. Certainly anyone considering new investment in a website would be negligent not to consider going down the database route. The time has come to say farewell to the days of out-of-date content and over-worked website editors!
Kieran Cooper is a director of the arts management consultancy Catalyst Arts
t: 01225 340340; e: kieran@catalystarts.com; w: http://www.catalystarts.com