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Rita Williams 2
Rita Williams 2 ✭
Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Name Dropper Photogenic
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
What are the advantages/disadvantages of having pages (i.e., general giving, alumni, parent) on the organization's main website versus NetCommunity from a functionality perspective? We are curious to know how others are structured, and if there are any issues with moving back and forth between BBNC and 3rd party sites if the pages are not within BBNC. We would greatly appreciate your thoughts and feedback!
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  • Rebecca Leifert
    Rebecca Leifert ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    Hi Rita,

    I'm working with more and more clients who are chosing to have hybrid or split sites like you're referring to where transactions are in BBNC and the rest of the site is in another CMS such as WordPress. These hybrid sites can be completely seemless in look & feel so the casual user doesn't know they're switching sites unless they are watching the URL and see that it changes. The main issues we notice are:
    • The branding/templates have to be created in the two systems leading to a larger budget to implement one design/necessary templates in two systems.
    • Two systems to manage means a duplication of efforts in some cases, ie menu updates must take place in both systems to keep unified look.
    • If the two systems are managed by different departments, updates must be coordinated & that sometimes means waiting to update the site in a timely fashion.
    Hope that helps. I'm looking forward to other's feedback as well. I will say that we have several clients who, once they settle into their new normal, are very pleased with their hybrid WP/BBNC sites.
  • Gina Gerhard
    Gina Gerhard ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 3 Photogenic

    We worked with Rebecca on this type of project and overall we've been very pleased with our 'split site'.  

    • The only additional thing I might add is that since our full website is no longer totally within BBNC, the way you now access pages on the BBNC backend is a bit more confusing -- since it's no longer one coherent site with easy navigation between all the pages.  So it does feel a bit more fragmented and less easily navigable.



    Rebecca Leifert:

    Hi Rita,

    I'm working with more and more clients who are chosing to have hybrid or split sites like you're referring to where transactions are in BBNC and the rest of the site is in another CMS such as WordPress. These hybrid sites can be completely seemless in look & feel so the casual user doesn't know they're switching sites unless they are watching the URL and see that it changes. The main issues we notice are:

    • The branding/templates have to be created in the two systems leading to a larger budget to implement one design/necessary templates in two systems.
    • Two systems to manage means a duplication of efforts in some cases, ie menu updates must take place in both systems to keep unified look.
    • If the two systems are managed by different departments, updates must be coordinated & that sometimes means waiting to update the site in a timely fashion.
    Hope that helps. I'm looking forward to other's feedback as well. I will say that we have several clients who, once they settle into their new normal, are very pleased with their hybrid WP/BBNC sites.

     

     

  • Lindsey Campbell 2
    Lindsey Campbell 2 ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Rita Williams:

    What are the advantages/disadvantages of having pages (i.e., general giving, alumni, parent) on the organization's main website versus NetCommunity from a functionality perspective? We are curious to know how others are structured, and if there are any issues with moving back and forth between BBNC and 3rd party sites if the pages are not within BBNC. We would greatly appreciate your thoughts and feedback!

    I work at a university that has its own website through T4. We use BBNC to host our donation, event, and directory pages. It does make consistency a bit difficult, but the university just went through a brand update so that meant our BBNC pages get a redo also. That has allowed us to find new ways to have the sites all work together.

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