COLLEGE WEB STEWARDS TO SWITCH FROM DREAMWEAVER
TO CONTRIBUTE

The Webhelp group, which provides support for departments and offices that maintain Web sites on the College's server, is introducing a new product that will replace Dreamweaver as the recommended Web-editing software on campus. Contribute, which is made by Macromedia — the same company that makes Dreamweaver — offers a much simpler user interface and one-button editing and publishing, says Director of Web and Instructional Resources Janet Scannell.

Senior Instructional Technologist Laura Blankenship and Web Applications Developer Mike Zarro held two training workshops on Contribute for Web stewards last week. Another training session is planned for next Wednesday, Aug. 18, from 11 a.m. to noon in the Canaday Training Center (e-mail lblanken to register). More training sessions and workshops will be offered throughout the semester, and members of the Webhelp group (Blankenship, Zarro, Language Learning Center Director Ben Johnston and Web Content Manager Claudia Ginanni) will be available to help individual Web stewards install and configure the new software; e-mail webhelp@brynmawr.edu to make arrangements. An online preview of Contribute’s features is available on the Macromedia Web site.

"I am really excited about this transition," said Zarro. "I think Contribute is much better suited to the needs of most of the Web stewards, and ultimately we’ll have a better site because updating pages will be faster and easier." According to Scannell, "staff members who have moved to Contribute have had nothing but positive things to say about how much faster they are able to do their jobs."

Because many Web stewards have no use for most of the features Dreamweaver offers and have found its site-management scheme unwieldy or confusing, the Webhelp group has been considering alternatives to Dreamweaver for some time. But the process was accelerated, Scannell explained in a letter to Web stewards, by legal and budgetary concerns.

Full versions of Dreamweaver and Photoshop will continue to be available at select locations on campus, including the New Media Lab and Educational Technology Office in Guild.

<<Back to Bryn Mawr Now 8/12/2004