Maintaining Web Pages: An Overview

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From a site that has a single online course, to the site containing many of them, all of the Web pages have to be maintained. The most important step in handling the process of updating the pages is to give the responsibility to someone. The person assigned this task will be responsible for updating the pages and that they're placed on the server. Depending on the institution, this person may be the instuctor of the course or a person assigned to oversee all course documents.

Why do this? Let's take a look at what we gain through proper page maintenance:

• limits the updates to a single, authorized source - reducing confusion and resolving conflicts.
• puts as much documentation as possible into the system itself - reducing the quantity of obsolete "hard copy".
• limits the number of supplements and releases - keeping them in large batches, will reduce the "noise" in the documentation channel. Incidentally, releasing these batches on a regular basis solves another major problem; it tells the students that they can be confident that all of the changes are online.

With that said, here are some tips that may help you in the maintenance of your pages during the life of the course:

• Keep a master file. The master file is your audit trail. This file should contain a printed copy of the Web pages that notes all corrections and changes. Each change and correction should be dated as well a a note explaining the change. Besides notes concerning communication and mechanics, the master file should also include information such as:
  • policy changes - new rules on what must or may be done, and by whom.
  • technical changes - minor modifications in the server environment that will affect your pages.
  • system enhancements - major changes and new features added to the server, whether it be scheduled or spontaneous.
• Create and maintain a document distribution list. This list identifies all of the people needing the pages. True, new Web pages are available as soon as they are posted on the server, but we still need to direct the class' attention to the changes. We can "call the reader's attention" on a local level with a last modified note at the bottom of each Web page. On a global level, we can use electronic mail as a way to summarize all of the changes.

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Last Modified: February, 2005