[Sigia-l] Online newletter best practices

[Darren Cambridge]

Do to budgetary constraints, one of my clients is moving their 
monthly newsletter online. I've not dealt with a print-to-online 
transition of this sort of publication before, so I'm requesting your 
suggestions.

Here's the deal:
* It's four-page printed newsletter that features 1000 word articles 
as well as short news items with photographs and internal ads. Some 
folks would think of it more as a magazine than a newsletter.
* There is next to no money allocated for design, so whatever I 
recommend, it has to be easy.
* The editor wants to have a printable version, probably a PDF, for 
download as well as the version designed for online reading.

Here's what I'm looking for:
* IA and usability principles and case studies
* good examples of online (Web, not email) newsletters with similar composition
* Information and opinions about the pros and cons of sticking with 
the "issue" structure. Most of my favorite informational sites, even 
those that publish short feature articles, don't post purely on a 
monthly or weekly schedule.
* Any insight into how to do the pretty printable version in parallel 
without a complete duplication of work. Would something like 
Framemaker be of help?

I'm think we may do most of this using ZOPE because of the budget crunch.

I appreciate any help you can send my way.

Thanks,

Darren Cambridge
American Association for Higher Education


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