I think I’ve gone blind over the past week from coding and typing, but I can finally say…I’m done. I have two minor things to finish up tomorrow morning (add citations to my PDF version of the site, and load a PDF on the USS Maine explosion to Omeka), but aside from that the site is finished. I implemented a number of changes suggested by various people: banner layout, site background, and menu divider. All of the text is now complete, and the remaining Omeka items I needed have been loaded. I went through and replaced all the funny characters (quotes, dashes) with proper HTML code – that was pretty painful. And I was finally able to get all the pages to run through validation correctly. I turned on the redirect from my main domain to the Omeka site, so www.steelnavy.org is no longer just sitting there with a “Coming Soon” tagline. I guess that wraps it up.
So, is this my final post? Do we need to continue blogging, or are we finished? I’m not sure I have anything more to add to what we’ve covered over the past 4 months.
Done? What’s that? I seem to vaguely remember the concept, but now I can’t remember a time when things were “done.”
Well, in all seriousness your site looks great and I’m looking forward to the full tour tonight. And at the risk of opening the can of worms that got me in trouble a couple weeks ago, I think your blog post raises a really important question—when are we done? There is the chronological answer—we are done when time runs out. But there is also our personal answer. There will always be another round of edits and suggestions. Every reader/viewer is unique and every person sees something new, and can add new input to the feedback loop. And as historians, the process of learning and research never ends…tomorrow you might find a new document that changes your narrative and interpretation, or a new book might come out that blows the field wide open. “Done” is a really tricky concept because ultimately “done” doesn’t exist except when we say so. It is a tremendous irony when you think about it: As designers, as historians, as creators and artists of all kinds, declaring the end of the line is both our most powerful statement and our most ephemeral. Done exists solely as a state of mind…
(How’s THAT for heavy thoughts off the second cup of coffee?!)
You’ve worked so hard on this site – it looks great. It’s really going to make an impact on the history of the navy on the web. Congratulations!!
Thanks Lynn!
Dan, I agree with what you’re saying. Whether it is film, fiction writing, or historical research, creative projects are never truly finished – you just decide at some point to stop working on them. One of the challenges with this project is that I’ve been researching the topic for less than a year. I haven’t put a dent in my primary (or even secondary) source research. Some of my hypotheses are very crudely formed and informed. I’m a bit apprehensive publishing it all out there on the web, given the work I have ahead of me and the questions I don’t have answers for yet. So, I can imagine that I’ll continue to tinker with this site in the future, both in terms of content, and design.
Looks excellent. Personally, I wouldn’t change a thing. But I’m worried that there might be a complaint tonight about taking “The” out of “The New Steel Navy.”
Maybe same with “A” in “A Hard Life.”
I agree that the menu titles will probably come up tonight. So thanks Chris for allowing me an opportunity here to defend my decision…
I thought long and hard about the menu titles. Some of the concepts were a bit too much to squeeze down into one word. I could have found something to fit, but it would not have conveyed the idea I was trying to express. I did a bit of research, and found some good precedent elsewhere. The top Omeka site – one that is given prominence in their showcase – is Lincoln at 200 (http://lincolnat200.org/), and it has a very similar menu structure, using short phrases. CHNM’s Digital History site also uses lengthy titles (http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/). So it seems to me that this technique is not out of the ordinary.
I also considered the use of articles, and in fact removed “THE” from “The Great Ships.” But I didn’t like the way the two examples you mentioned sounded when modified, so I left them as is.
It looks good. I think the final logo is a good choice. You kept the sailors but also didn’t leave the text on top of them. The color scheme is good, too. It’s easy to read the text, which is important, considering how much there is to read on the site.
I’m impressed with the detail. Great job. I hope my site turns out as good as your is.