TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> While I generally do research and content writing, I do know HTML, and
> have made a number of web sites using it and Dreamweaver 2.0. So a while
> back I and another writer put together a web site for one of the
> materials our company uses.
While my primary job is developing web pages, I'm also a good writer, so
a while ago I wrote a booklet about one of the materials our company
uses.
> We got the web site so it was functional with all the links working,
> etc.We had been checking regularly with the supervisor to make sure we
> were in line with what she envisioned.
We wrote it, edited it, and formatted it, all the while checking with
our supervisor to make sure it was in line with what she envisioned.
> In the final stage it was then turned over to the primary person who
> had created all the company's previous web sites so that he could put
> the security clearances, connect it to the databases, etc.
When it was finished we turned it over to the tech writer so he could
get it printed.
> He ends up re-working the entire web site to match his style and then
> began "tweaking" the images and organization.
He ended up re-doing the whole thing to match his style and then began
"tweaking" our words and design.
> In short, the web site is now available for our selected customers, BUT
> much of it is now non-functional--many of the GIFs are absent or not
> working, and many of the links are dead, and some of the main material
> is now hidden so no one can find it...real basic stuff.
When he edited it, he took out a lot of things that needed to be there.
Now the table of contents is all wrong, and some things we thought were
important are buried in appendices in the back.
> As it was first happening I talked w/ the web designer and got some
> things corrected, but we kept finding more and more things that were no
> longer working, and it seemed that he just ignored and still ignores any
> further email corrections.
I got him to fix some of the things he'd messed up, but as I kept
pointing out problems he eventually began to ignore my email.
> So, I offered my services to fix the problems with the site via email
> to the supervisor since apparently the web designer doesn't have the
> time or inclination to fix them.
So I told his supervisor that since he doesn't have the time or
inclination to fix the booklet, I could fix it.
I agree that if parts of the site aren't functioning, they should be
fixed ASAP. But from what you've told us it looks like you invaded this
guy's turf, and maybe, just maybe, he is consciously or subconsciously
punishing you for it. Just a thought. Another possibility is that the
links are broken because he pulled your pages into FrontPage and he
doesn't know how to fix them, but I'll leave that for another thread.
;-)