Site Redesign

Hello everyone,

Forgive me if this seems off-topic or posted on the wrong mailing list, but 
I figured I might have better luck addressing a more experienced audience 
(and since it's "techniques", it seemed relevant).  I am in the process of 
getting ready to redesign a web site for an association and was hoping to 
get some input from professionals that might have undertaken a similar 
task.  I have designed and redesigned web sites before, however this job 
appears to be a bit more complex than previous jobs.

As a lot of large sites begin, they are put together incrementally and 
eventually become rather large and sometimes cumbersome.  The site is 
large, with portions of it outdated, and consists of various contributors 
(being the various departments, ie. education, journals, communications, 
etc) with their own nooks on the site, with no clear procedures on 
maintaining and keeping their portions up-to-date and such.  The directory 
structure of the site is a total mess, and apparently the navigation needs 
improvement as well (or so the members complain).  This might not seem very 
complicated, but I also must consult with an "online editor" who represents 
the board and is partially responsible for their web presence.  They 
attempted to redesign the site once before, but the process fizzled.  I 
just wondered if anyone might have had a similar experience (working on a 
redesign of a major site, either with an association or large 
organization), and could give me some advice on how to go about the 
process, where to begin, and how to manage the project.  If anyone knows of 
any case studies or of any relevant courses being offered in the DC 
metropolitan area, that would be very helpful as well.  It appears that I 
need to rework many aspects of how the site is run, and I want to do it in 
the fastest and most efficient way possible.

Any help you can give me is greatly appreciated.  Thanks for your time.

Ryan Bell
cbell(at)gmu.edu

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