Anne Dougherty

Web Manager, Web Editor: Greenpeace

Project: Front End Redesign and Migration to Database Driven Content Management System

In October 2001 I embarked on a site architecture and look and feel redesign for Greenpeace USA's main web site which was three years stale. As Project Manager, I first solicited input from the Web Editors directly under my supervision, then I drew up a series of survey questions which were administered to individuals in each department to help determine internal needs for the site. The resulting list of internal needs included:

• using more photos,
• using photos at a larger size,
• using more color, and
• making the site reflect the organization's self-perception of "young and dynamic."

Another important change from the 1997 era design was the move from a fixed width design of 800x600 pixels, centered in the middle of the screen to a liquid, spreading design that would maximize the use of the site visitor's visual space.

Web Manager, Web Editor: Greenpeace

One of the bigger problems with the 1997-era design was the lack of visual priority for important information. There was no easy way to tell what was the breaking story on the homepage.

The redesigned homepage not only used more of the visual space available on the screen but also allowed Greenpeace Web Editors to prioritize stories.

I specified functionality that would, based on a cookie sent to the visitor's browser, rotate features on the homepage so that content was as fresh as possible for returning visitors; if the cookie was not accepted by the site visitor, the features rotate through based on the order in which they were entered into the content management system. I also specified controls for homepage content that would allow site editors to place a story "static" on the upper left hand side.

Homepage content controls also allowed for not only the medium and small stories visible in this screen shot but also for a "giant" story that would occupy the width of the content space on the page and be displayed with a much larger photograph.

Web Manager, Web Editor: Greenpeace

The goal of increasing the use of photos on the site was incorporated into the actual design through the use of thematic banners in each section. Changable via a tool built into the content management system, these banners provided a visual way to support the fresher content on the pages.

Surveying our site visitors led us to the conclusion that visitors wanted to be able to browse by topic as well as be able to have one big "bin" that displayed all features by date.

Specifications for the content management system included not only the ability to assign content to multiple categories simultaneously, such as Campaigns - Nuclear:Feature and Homepage - Medium Feature, but also the ability to associate content with an organizational initiative.

Web Manager, Web Editor: Greenpeace

Content Management System Design: Web Sites' Administrative Tools

Prior to 2001, in-house web editors at Greenpeace had no access to or control over e-newsletter subscribers' data. All communication with e-newletter subscribers was mediated through an account manager at a contract web hosting provider. Effective January 2001, I established for Greenpeace a web hosting and software development relationship with Two Radical Technologies, a move which reduced the organization's web hosting costs by 98% per month.

After working with 2Rad's developers to replicate core functionality that had been proprietary to Greenpeace's previous hosting firm, I wrote the specifications for a Mailing Lists Manager that allowed us to quickly view the number of subscribers for each electronic mailing list, find a subscriber either by name or by e-mail address, add a subscriber, and create new lists.

Web Manager, Web Editor: Greenpeace

Web Sites' Administrative Tools

The Mailing Lists Manager also gave Greenpeace web editors complete control over a variety of mailing list settings.

Editors could enter text for a preset welcome message and determine whether or not a message is automatically sent to new subscribers, determine text to be post-fixed to every unique mailing, set the "from" and "reply to" addresses uniquely for each list, enter a short description which appears dynamically in the Subscription Center on the main web site, and determine whether or not a list is available to the public. This feature was particularly useful for Greenpeace as it allowed the organization to communicate electronically with its members via a private list but centralized the control of all lists in one tool.

Web Manager, Web Editor: Greenpeace

Web Sites' Administrative Tools: Take Action Tool

Creating, editing, and getting response statistics for online actions was another key piece of functionality that was mediated by Greenpeace's web hosting provider prior to January 2001.

Working from specifications I created, 2Rad developers coded a centralized Take Action Tool which allowed Greenpeace web editors to manage all facets of online actions.

Web Manager, Web Editor: Greenpeace

The Take Action Tool evolved over time from the original specification which called only for the web editors to be able to add and either make active or inactive online actions. When feedback from Greenpeace's e-activists indicated they were curious about the results of actions in which they had participated, I wrote the specifications for an Action Results Center which was dynamically tied to the Take Action Tool.

Creation of the Action Results Center required that we associate each online action with a particular campaign or initiative by creating the "action type" flag. Since an online action might not fit within one of Greenpeace's campaign areas, I also specified that editors should have the ability to create new action types in real-time. As the organization came to use online activism more heavily, we found that some online actions, such as those with public comment periods bounded by specific deadlines, were only useful if they could be set to expire automatically. The ability to do this was also added to the Take Action Tool's original specifications. Centralizing the control over each of these items simplified the user interface for Greenpeace's web editors.