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Engaging the User |
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Interesting and interactive web pages |
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A web site is of no value without users. Although most people will go to a web site once, probably out of curiosity, a site must engage the user to encourage site exploration and return visits. Building on the real life experience of running a community portal site Portal Constructor has a range of functions that an administrator or Weblet owner can use to engage the user.
Lots of Pictures
Never was the old maxim "a picture is worth a thousand word" more true than when producing content for a web site. Portal Constructor enables the easy insertion of images into abstracts, articles or displayed standalone. A thumbnail can be automatically created and JPEG images can be resized without the need for external software.
Abstracts
To make content easily digestible an abstract can be produced that can include thumbnail images or links. An abstract can either be produced manually or automatically when an article is prepared.
Rotation
An article's abstracts can be set to automatically rotate after a definable number of days. This ensures that a Weblet's home page changes on a regular basis keeping it 'fresh' and more inviting. An example of this technique is "Recipe of the day" that is rotated daily from a set of about twenty (..and you thought we produced them every day !)
Polls
Portal Constructor features a very easy to use Poll generator. A poll can have one question and two or more definable answers. A time limit may be set and multiple responses from the same user are detected and prevented. The responses are presented to the user in the form of a bar graph. It has been found that use of a poll such as "should city centre parking be free" encourages users to follow up on the topic and read the related material.
Forums
A threaded forum facility provides a simple but effective method of engaging users and encouraging repeat visits. The forum is the only part of content acquisition that is 'post authorised'. Every time a posting is made to the forum the designated moderator(s) automatically receive an email. This gives the opportunity to delete any inappropriate material.
Map
The interactive map is undoubtedly one of the most popular areas of a community site. People relate to a geographic representation of information. Finding out the address of a school is nothing like as interesting as seeing its location on a map in relationship to other features such as bus routes, parks, shopping centres etc.
Entries can easily be made, and such entries have a name and category. For example if a council wanted to show where all its new bottle banks were located it is just a few minutes work to mark them on the map and categorise them as "bottle banks". Portal Constructor can display any map that has a grid reference; this can be a county map, a town centre, the plan of an office building or even a map of the world.
For example, click here for a list of recyling banks in Milton Keynes.
Links
A Weblet owner or administrator can easily insert links for other Weblets or articles with no HTML knowledge. If a link to an external URL is required this can be typed or cut and pasted using the conventional address.
Searches
Content is of no value unless it can be easily found. Portal Constructor has a search facility that looks for matches within articles both currently displayed and held in the archive. The titles of documents held within the various libraries are also included. For more advanced searching additional functions may be enbedded in to the site.
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