Comments on: J-Schools: Don’t waste precious time on Dreamweaver!

By: Xpectro

Xpectro — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:43:25 +0000

Amy, you are absolutely right. I teach Digital Design as part of a Communication carreer here in Colombia, and I do think exactly like you do.

Teaching Dream in an university, depending the audience, it’s like teaching writers how to build a typewriter (or program a word processor!) to begin writing!

This time should be used in developing their skills to use media in their benefit to tell a story…

By: Simplicity Drives Technology Adoption - Publishing 2.0

Simplicity Drives Technology Adoption - Publishing 2.0 — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:19:24 +0000

[...] editors and reporters more efficient rather than more difficult. Amy Gahran recently lamented that journalism schools still teach Dreamweaver instead of teaching simple content management systems like [...]

By: links for 2008-01-25 « Reportr.net

links for 2008-01-25 « Reportr.net — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:37:32 +0000

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By: Pat Thornton

Pat Thornton — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:04:48 +0000

Here is an example of a micro-site that I built dedicated to the Army-Navy football game, which is a huge event for my paper: http://www.stripes.com/armynavy

Ideally, I’d like to build micro -sites like the Post does (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/interactives/blackmen/blackmen.html?wpisrc=600014), where the micro-site is still within the overall site and CMS, but our current CMS doesn’t allow for this. So, we do what we can. It works fine though for big special features.

We also have all of our normal stat tracking on the micro-sites.

I like using micro-sites for packages that run for several days and combine a lot of content. Plus, they are fun to build.

I don’t believe, however, you can teach a journalist how to build a good micro-site in one journalism class. Perhaps the best use of teaching students Dreamweaver is so they can learn how to build digital resumes. If they are good at that, maybe they can look into making micro-sites.

I have been building Web sites for years, however, and it’s hard to teach good Web design in a short period of time.

By: Amy Gahran

Amy Gahran — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:50:39 +0000

Thanks, Pat.

You wrote: “Now, I’m not saying that students shouldn’t learn Dreamweaver, because some newspapers do make micro-sites. I build one for my newspaper every few months.”

Now, ideally a micro-site should integrate somehow with the main site. What’s been your experience for trying to achieve that integration between a dreamweaver site and the CMS backing the main site?

Also, could you link to an example of on of your dreamweaver micro-sites?

- Amy Gahran

By: Pat Thornton

Pat Thornton — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:40:35 +0000

All j-school should be teaching robust CMSes. The best way to teach this is to require that they work on the student newspaper. Make sure that paper has a great CMS that allows students to learn about the Web and how to update a Web site.

Now, I’m not saying that students shouldn’t learn Dreamweaver, because some newspapers do make micro-sites. I build one for my newspaper every few months. I hand code everything, but some people might be able to do the same with Dreamweaver. I think ,however, having a strong knowledge of html/css is a better option.

There are plenty of times when I have used both at my job. CSS should be an optional online journalism class, but it’s a tool that many journalists could learn.

Back to CMSes, all students should be encouraged to get a WordPress blog. It’s a great way to learn a simple CMS. Combine that with a robust CMS for a student newspaper, and students should be prepared to work in modern journalism.