Yesterday I met with the client and we reviewed the disk-based web project. After about a 90 minute discussion, they were extremely jazzed about the possibilities.

Having messed around with technology for 25 years, it was fun to see someone actually run with an idea faster than me! I think this is a tremendous testament to the potential of web technology and how deeply hooked it has become in many people's lives, both professional and personal.

The client started out wanting something "simple" with just a page for each part in their parts catalog. On that page, they wanted tabs for each aspect about the part. I moved the idea to one in which there was top-level categories of parts, with a drill down menu on the left to each item always present. Each part is one page (1-2 printed) and contains all the information about it right there, using bookmarks to easily get to parts below. I also added a small breadcrumb trail nav bar at the top. It turns out its great for showing the "taxonomy" of the product line and reinforcing the nomenclature.

A key to keeping the ball rolling was knowing how to task the company's content contributors. Everyone wants the project to go forward and be a success but they are still too new to it to know how they can help. Anticipating this, I had prepared a specific set of "next steps" action items for everyone involved, down to file naming conventions, etc. It turns out this was exactly the kind of detailed guidance they needed and today everyone is off cranking away on their part!

Thanks again!