Website design and content

A website is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the internet. A Web page is a document, typically written in (X)HTML, that is almost always accessible via HTTP, a protocol that transfers information from the Web server to display in the user’s Web browser. All publicly accessible websites are seen collectively as constituting the ‘World Wide Web’. (from Wikipedia) 

Communities: TechSoup’s Web Building forum.

Networks: NTEN’s Non-profit Webmasters Affinity Group (free); Charity Webmasters Forum (Yahoo! Group email list); London Net Tuesday group.

Consultants: A Non-profit’s Guide to Websites by 47Media; 10 Great Tips for Your Non-profit Website by See3; Jason King’s worksheet to help you plan your website.

Organisations: Idealware’s Comparing Open Source CMSs: Joomla, Drupal and Plone article; Idealware’s A Few Good Tools to Manage Content on Simple Sites article; Idealware’s How Much Does a Non-profit Website Cost? by Laura S. Quinn.

Blogs: Olga Sanchez-Howard’s Designing for Non-profits: User Experience Professionals Can Make a Difference in Society post; ProBlogger’s How to Write Great Blog Content post; Blog Critics Magazine’s How to Write Great Website Content article; PJ Fusco’s From Good to Great Content post; Steven Snell’s 40 Inspirational Non-Profit Website Designs post; Mike Kujawski’s Simple Lesson in Public Sector/Non-Profit Website Return on Investment (ROI) post; Brian Reindel’s Ten inspiring and beautiful non-profit Web designs post; Usability First’s Website Design resources.

Tools: Post your Pro-Bono Design Project on Idealist (to get free web design); record user testing with Silverback; or commission it remotely from Usertesting.com. And for the more technically-minded, check out the Startup Tools Wiki created by London startup Songkick.

Publications: The Websters’ Dictionary: How to Use the Web to Transform the World by Ralph Benko;Branding for Non-profits by D.K. Holland; Web Design for Dummies by Lisa Lopuck;200 Terrific Web Sites for Non-profit Organizations by Brownie S., Ph.D. Hamilton.