At 08:08 AM 7/30/1998 -0400, you wrote:
>     The Society for Historical Archaeology has maintained a website for a
>     number of years now.  This site has been used primarily as an medium
>     through which folks could get a sneak peek at upcoming Newsletters, HA
>     Journal abstracts, and info. regarding the SHA annual meetings.  SHA
>     would now like to expand the usefulness of this site -- both to
>     professional archaeologists and to the general public.  Any
>     ideas/brainstorms would be greatly appreciated.
 
Much as I hate to argue with Smoke Pfeiffer, frames are useful for
identifying your "location"--something that is easy to lose track of while
you're surfing. I hate those sites that open another window for every
single link you click on. And frames may be easily broken out of if the
user needs to--"open in a new window" will get you to the specific file in
most frame-based sites (Netscape 3.0, right-click on a link; later
netscapes you can simply right click on the page). (but then, I *would*
like frames)
 
No big graphics, though--they're pretty, and they roll up fast on the
server, but ouch! for private use, pee-yoo.
 
I'd really like to see more content. More space given to abstracts (a page
of their own or at least a bookmark to the abstract) and an email address
for every author that has one. Links to member's web sites; an invited
column on historical archaeology every now and again for fun. People always
want to know where they can learn more--how about a book list for further
reading (of general public stuff--the rest of us can make our own way).
There are ways to open up a public forum on the site (bulletin board, etc),
but I don't know how fancy you want to get--and how much more discussion
you'll get than histarch already gets is a good question.
 
That'll teach ya to ask for advice <g>
 
kris
Kris Hirst
Office of the State Archaeologist
The University of Iowa
[log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
<http://archaeology.miningco.com>