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The challenges in designing and maintaining an online publication can be daunting. After the initial leap from print media to an interactive website, the tasks of increasing site traffic, leveraging archival content, and creating a rewarding experience for web readers -- one that's stylistically fresh and on the cutting edge technologically -- present new concerns and opportunities for publishers. Many of these challenges are resolved by implementing a dynamic site structure and by using template and database-driven archival software. Dispatch is such a program. This section of documentation demonstrates the differences between "static" and "dynamic" sites, and what this means to your online publication and readers.
In a single issue of an average online publication, pages are usually strung together by a sectional table of contents and/or a home page (as in this example). The empty boxes represent articles within a specific issue.
The enlarged page on the right of the diagram displays all of the possible reader paths from any given page on this site. As you will see, this particular structure is extremely limited and usually results in low overall site traffic.
When a new issue is added to an online publication, the previous issue is usually bumped into the archives. In a static site, this would accurately be referred to as "the morgue."
 This diagram demonstrates a snapshot of our sample site over a period of time. The current issue is still on the top, and the individual archived issues are represented by the series of pages below it. Notice that no issue has any relationship with another issue. Once an issue is moved to the archives, it becomes a self-contained island in time. The current issue hasn't gained anything from the archives; it's still as limited and isolated as it always was. The only way to access the archives in a static site is for the reader to take action and perform a search. This might be fine for researching a topic, but it's a far cry from actual browsing, or taking advantage of the wealth and depth of a publication's archives. At best, the end result will yield only a short reader path, such as the one demonstrated below.
 Even with the addition of a search engine, this site suffers from limited archival exploration. Leveraging the content to its full potential and offering the reader tangents and new avenues for discovery will never happen given the site's inherent structural constraints.
Now that you know the limitations of static sites, you can see how one-dimensional this site structure is. There are no relationships between issues and articles, and the only method for accessing archives requires extended effort by the reader, which assumes a reader's ability to structure a successful search. Even for experienced web readers, this can be a frustrating and discouraging process. To demonstrate what a dynamic site is, we illustrate how Dispatch maximizes the value of a publication's archives by creating immediate and infinite reader paths.
 In a dynamic site, we stop thinking about publications simply as issues. Instead, every element of a site is cataloged to create relationships based on authors, artists, keywords, articles, subjects, sections, story types, dates, page positions, column threads, and more. The end result is what we refer to as the "Dispatch Effect." As you can see, this is the same site from the static example, but it now has numerous relational links represented by the interconnecting blue lines. The enlarged page lists some of the new reader paths now possible.
Here is sample of a potential reader path in a dynamic site. Assume the reader is following concept tangents, such as links to other articles on the same subject, more articles by that author, recent articles in that thread, etc.
 As you can see, the ability for a reader to browse the archives and explore the depth of this publication's site exponentially increases. When readers perform searches, they generally end up on archived articles due to critical mass and basic odds. However, unlike the static site example, this search opens up reader-path potential by allowing browsable access throughout all your publication's archives.
 Notice how readers can now bounce through time and follow concept paths of their choosing. In essence, Dispatch is designed to enable relationships that mimic tangential thought. The end result is a highly interconnected site that leverages every article available in your publication's online history.
One of the unique aspects about Dispatch is the ability to create your own User Defined Fields (UDFs) to aid in cataloging your stories to their maximum potential. By default, Dispatch catalogs issue run dates, volume/issue numbers, sections, columns, stories, images, captions, headlines, subheadlines, authors/artists (including email and homepage), summary descriptions, meta keywords and meta descriptions. UDFs allow you go beyond these defaults, customizing Dispatch to your publication's content. Common UDFs include film title, director, rating, band name, book title, story type, and literally anything else you can think of. This document was prepared to introduce you to UDFs, list common examples of UDFs, and describe a few ways you can use UDFs to increase the depth of your online publication.
The use of UDFs can enrich your reader's experience, increase overall site traffic, present limitless design possibilities, offer numerous revenue opportunities, and dramatically extend the life of your archives. By way of example, let's look at how you might use UDFs within your film review section: film title, director, actors, film genres, story type (interview, review, feature), quality rating (4 stars), and release date. Examples of using these UDFs:
Plus, you can also use the default Dispatch fields to add additional links, such as:
All of these ideas are browse-based presentation elements you can use however you want, such as in suggested links or sidebars. The more you catalog, the more potential you have in page presentation, and archival depth.
Film Story Type (Interview, Review, Feature), Title (A Fish Called Wanda), Category (Comedy, Romance), Studio (MGM, Sony, DGC), Director (Charles Crichton), Actors (John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin), Release Date (1988), Rating Certificate (G, PG, R), Quality Rating: (3.5 stars, thumbs up), Official Site (http://www.fierce-creatures.com/), Format (VHS, Laserdisk, DVD) Music Story Type (Interview, Review, Feature, Live Report), Category (Jazz, Blues, Electronic), Artist (Beastie Boys, Hanson), Additional Performers (Q-Tip, Weird Al Yankovic, David Grisman, Jim Hall), Record Label (Geffin, Sony), Album Title (Follow the Leader, Whitechocolatespaceegg), Quality Rating (5 stars), Release Date (1998), Producer (Dust Brothers), Official Site (http://www.beastieboys.com/), Format (LP, CD, Tape) and/or (Double-Album, Album, EP, Single, Import, Live), Regionality (local, national, southeast), Location (venue) Books Story Type (Interview, Review, Feature, Book Signing), Category (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Novel, Anthology, Sci-Fi, Reference, Coffee-table, etc...), Book Title, Publisher, Author, Release Date, Quality Rating, Official Site, Format (Paperback, Hardback), Pages (145), Price ($9.99, $29.50), Location (book signing location). Arts Story Type (Review, Preview, Editorial, Feature, Interview), Medium (Ballet, Theatre, Painting, Photography, Opera, Symphony), Artist (Mozart, Warhol, Ali, Tucson Latin Jazz Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti), Presenting Company (Invisible Theater, Top Cap Ballet), Location, Official Site, Price, Quality Rating News Story type (editorial, investigative, opinion, columnist, feature), Category (Crime, Politics, Sports), Local, Regional, National or International, Official Site
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static (sta-tik) adj. 1. showing little change 2. at rest, inactive
We refer to the paths a reader can take throughout a site as "reader paths." A typical reader path might be similar to the this diagram: The reader enters through the home page and jumps from one article to the next within a given issue.
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