Division Web pages being revamped

Henry Baumgartner
ASME NEWS

The division Web pages on ASME.ORG are being given a bright and attractive new design that will make it easy to find the information visitors need, and should increase traffic, too.

The reason for the redesign is a template-driven content management platform that will make it possible to separate look, feel and navigation from content. All of the ASME.ORG site is being moved to such a platform. The redesign will greatly enhance the pages and make Webmasters' jobs much easier. Most of the work on the division pages should be completed by this fall.

Users will be able to enter content on their designated areas on ASME.ORG by simply supplying it as text, so staff and volunteers will not need to use Web-editing programs or know HTML code to post updates. Another key benefit is that the new system will automate a great deal of Web page maintenance. To help keep information timely, users will be able to program the duration of an item's posting on a Web page. Application forms posted on the Web with last year's deadline will soon be only a memory.

To take advantage of this powerful Internet technology, however, the division Web pages will have to be rebuilt around a template structure. ASME's Engineering Programs Department has assembled a team to build the new division Web page templates. This includes the design as well as the data mining that's needed to develop the ASME portal framework. No action is needed on the part of division members, according to Elio A. Manes, senior program manager in the department.

Naturally, once a design is ready for a division, the team will ask for its review and comments as to the features that members feel would best suit the needs of their division. Rupal Mody, the Website production coordinator, is creating attractive and individualized templates for all division Web pages. When the overall site content management platform is launched, it will be possible to just roll the redesigned pages into it.

As Robert Ivester, the Webmaster for the Manufacturing Engineering Division, described the process, "They showed us a couple of draft designs that were circulated among the executive council and others." The MED site served as a sort of dry run for the project, so although the division's site has been redesigned, it is not yet on the template. But, according to Ivester, the big advantage has been "bringing our newsletter online to members. It's produced earlier and it's more timely." The division had been trying to get the semiannual print newsletter out in time for conferences, but it was always difficult to have it out early enough to let members make plans to attend. Having the newsletter online solved this problem.

Now the division concentrates on the newsletter, and ASME staff handles the rest of the site. The definition of roles and responsibilities is overseen by a committee, chaired by Ivester, that includes relevant personnel from the MED — the newsletter and journal editors, people from the executive committee — and ASME staff contacts, including Mody. While there were some mild tensions initially over questions of loss of ownership, they were "not too bad," said Ivester, "and, in the end, we were able to work out our concerns over who had access to what. I think the concerns were misplaced," he added.

Of course, the division still sends out a print version of the newsletter, too. Ivester observed that it was now like having four issues a year, two print and two online. In fact, division personnel spend more time on it than they did before, but, he says, it's now "much more useful."

The best way to do this is to arrange the information on existing division Web-based offerings into a few common categories. The ones being used are Home (information about division mission and technical focus), Events, Publications, Student Programs, Honors and Awards, Committees, Membership (benefits of joining the division, with link to online membership application form), Division Administration, Related Links and "Contact Us." The software is flexible enough so these template categories can be changed as division activities evolve. The Division Administration area of the template will also provide a means for division leaders to do volunteer work more efficiently using the Web.

This membership-database-driven program will feature a mass e-mail function, making it quick and easy for divisions to communicate with members at no cost. Division Web pages will also be able to function as ASME portals to increase visibility and traffic to other areas on ASME.ORG and to more effectively promote other Society products, such as journals, books from ASME Press, pertinent courses and videos, associated ASME codes and standards, and so forth. Constructing the Web page as an ASME portal positions it as a one-stop source for a particular technology or industry and adds value by making it easier for visitors to find related information within ASME.ORG.

The Engineering Programs Department's goal is to redesign most of the division Web pages within the next four months.

A few divisions whose Web pages have been redesigned fairly recently will be done after the others. The Microelectromechanical Subdivision and the Materials Division are not yet on the ASME server. As soon as their files are transferred, they, too, will be redesigned.

For an example of a redesigned division Web page using the ASME portal concept, those interested should visit the MED page (www. asme.org/divisions/med/). Pages that have been redesigned and also incorporate the new template structure include those of the Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division, the Fluids Engineering Division, the Solid Waste Processing Division, and the Computers and Information in Engineering Division.

John Sutherland, a professor of mechanical engineering at Michigan Technological University and the outgoing MED chair, reports good feedback on the new page from the membership.

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