Dabbling Dismay

I have kept a website to advertise sign interpreted performances in Oregon and SW Washington for years - maybe 11 years now, maybe more.  I used to have the time to play around regularly during the year and make changes, adaptations. Now, I try to do a major update with all the seasons at least once a year and then any changes/updates throughout.  I used to try to make an individual page per show (but I never had any site stats to know if that worked or not...).

Now, I have site meter but I still have the same old program and yet the websites I use to help me build mine (advertising THEIR shows) are getting harder and harder to deal with and/or navigate.

During "The Lion King" performances this year, we were asked to add a third performance and didn't get confirmation until the same week of that performance. A person who uses the website (which is GREAT) was upset that the third date hadn't been added onto SignPlay. Since I was one of the interpreters, I was more focused on being ready for the show. I had posted the additional performance AND how to get tickets on Facebook (which seems like a much more immediate place), but they were still irked with me that SignPlay was wrong.

So, today, I have been working on the website to update the season for 2010-2011. The theatres have not posted all their interpreted performance dates and SOME of them don't even have an easy way for me to find their season at all. I work through Homestead which has been good to me and is an easy drag-and-drop program. I thought I wanted to change the logo and the fonts and style and worked for some time, but then, I couldn't get it right, so I just went back to the same old style. When I did, I realized that I am probably the only one who cares what the font is. I wanted to try to make it look more professional, but I just don't have enough expertise to do it. I don't know HTML, so I have to depend on the tools available to me.

So, I am still in the process of getting the new index/front page ready, then I will be slowly working on all the other pages, as well. I will probably redo all the "Meet the Interpreters" pages, too. So if you are an interpreter reading here, please send me your performance resume and I will include you on that page. I would really love to get to the point that I can add video clips (Portland Center Stage started using them last year) and photos of each interpreter so that our audiences can see who is interpreting. I think that is a very good thing.

Anyway, that is what I spend my day doing until I couldn't take it anymore. I will work some more tomorrow and hope that I make enough progress to publish. Wish me luck!