Meeting NotesTips and Topics from the Experts

February 2000 Meeting


Meeting Leaders: Emily Barkin and Natalie Zellat Dyen

by Joanne Lentz

Originally published in News & Views April 2000 issue.

Copyright 2000 STC-Philadelphia Metro Chapter. For permission to reprint this article, contact the Managing Editor.


February's STC-PMC meeting featured our second annual progression. The progression format presents short, simultaneous sessions on several topics from which the attendees can choose. These three topics were repeated in two sessions:

  • Mission Accomplished: How Website Indexing Enhances the User's Experience
  • MS Word: Taming the Beast
  • Creating a CBT From Scratch...Including (gasp) Graphics

Following is a brief overview of two of the presentations.

Mission Accomplished: How Website Indexing Enhances the User's Experience

Emily Barkin discussed a variety of topics related to website indexing.

What is a website index?

Basically, a website index is a systematic guide to items in a collection.

Why build a website index?

A well designed site index can simplify navigating through your web site, ensuring that your clients continue to reference your web site. In addition, an easy-to-use index can improve the clarity, consistency, and accessibility of information on your web site. As users become more savvy, a site index should assist them in looking for answers efficiently and effortlessly. If people don't find what they are looking for within a reasonable period of time, they will leave your web site for other options. Once a visitor to your web site has left in frustration, chances are they will not consider your web site as a reference in the future.

What goes into a website index?

Components of a site index should include:

  • a thesaurus of preferred terms, which serve as key words for the site index
  • synonyms (a "see" option) that can guide the user to a preferred term
  • related terms (e.g., see also) to guide the user to another term that may have relevance to their initial search
  • a controlled vocabulary, which will help guide the user to similar words in their search

How should a website index support corporate goals?

Finally, the site index should support the corporate goals on behalf of both external and internal users. The index should model the correct interpretation of the language of your business, thereby maintaining consistency throughout all corporate data. This will result in setting an expectation that similar content will look the same everywhere you find it.

For additional information

The American Society of Indexers: www.asindexing.org

Creating a CBT From Scratch...Including (gasp) Graphics

Natalie Zellat Dyen presented a case study of creating a web-based course using basic HTML, MS FrontPage, and Corel PHOTOPAINT.

Advantages to web-based training

A web-based course can

  • complement classroom training programs
  • reinforce/expand the concepts presented in the classroom for new hires
  • shorten classroom time
  • provide additional learning opportunities for existing employees
  • make education available to everyone within the organization

How to create web-based training

Ms. Dyen suggests the following guidelines:

  • Design and organization: Keep pages simple, and use colors consistently. Navigation should be flexible.
  • Graphics: Use graphics to assist "visual learners," to break up pages of solid text, and to entertain.
  • Advanced options: Incorporate interactivity and tracking into your course. For example, use an Access database to compile a Q&A table into an interactive test. Advantages of an interactive test include providing users with feedback on their status and helping answer their questions.

For additional information


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Last updated: April 26, 2000 (mvh)