Local New Jersey Web Company Creates Website for the Largest Performing Arts Organization in the United States: TAG Online Debuts New On-line ChevronTexaco Opera Information Center - April 17, 2003

April 17, 2003, Montclair, New Jersey - On November 29, 2002, Montclair, New Jersey-based web company TAG Online, Inc. launched www.operainfo.org, the complete online resource for the Metropolitan Opera ChevronTexaco broadcasts and the Metropolitan Opera Guild. After completing a successful season at the Metropolitan Opera, the site has proven to be an invaluable resource. It offers a wealth of information and educational tools, with an emphasis on the Metropolitan Operas most prominent and effective outreach program: live radio broadcasts of Saturday afternoon performances sponsored for over a half century by ChevronTexaco. TAG Online was chosen to create a website that would showcase a large amount of ongoing and evolving information in an attractive and accessible way.

Given such a highly visible and enormously popular institution as the Metropolitan Opera, it should be no surprise that the Metropolitan Opera Guild's website prior to its redesign and restructuring was both functional and successful. However, it had been several years since the last redesign, and the site's organization and appearance were taking on a dated look. As a result, the Metropolitan Opera Guild started soliciting bids for a redesign of the site.

Very quickly, they found that the cost for this upgrade was prohibitive in both time and money. They'd accumulated thousands of pages of information, which would require a huge effort to alter. Worse, the cost would be paid again at the next redesign, and the next, and so on. The Metropolitan Opera Guild knew that a better solution was possible, although they weren't sure of the form it would take.

This is when they sought out TAG Online. Formed as a software company in the 1980s, TAG Online has long experience working with large and complex software systems. Since 1993, TAG Online has been applying that expertise to the creation of powerful and effective web sites. They work in partnership with their clients, finding the best and most cost-effective solutions to clients' current and future needs.

When the Metropolitan Opera Guild approached TAG Online with the daunting task of redesigning thousands of pages, one that could easily take them into the next decade, TAG Online proposed an easier solution. They worked with Kathy Canfield of Canfield Design Studios, one of their top web designers, to create a collection of predefined, user-friendly templates a description of a page's appearance and structure with no content that can be modified or enhanced to control various aspects of the appearance of a web page. This system of templates allows for a virtually unlimited ability to expand and make changes on the site. It also enforces consistency, simplifies enhancements and reduces the cost of maintenance.

TAG Online also created a database for storage of the actual content of the website. Pages consist of information extracted from the database and displayed through the page templates. This solution offered some important advantages over the old site. First and most importantly, a complete redesign of the site involves nothing more than changing a small collection of templates; even major changes become minor affairs. A second benefit is the ease with which new information may be added, or existing information may be altered. Because the information on the website changes frequently, it was important to have an efficient way to administer changes and updates.

The current website includes information on each opera, such as the opera background, the composer, the story, the music (with audio clips), cast/characters, teacher materials, and intermission features in English, as well as French, Spanish and Portuguese. One can also find the history of the Metropolitan Opera, a radio station finder, a news archive and an archive of information on Met performances aired during past seasons.

Making changes to any of this previously required not only a familiarity with the content and language, but also knowledge of HTML, the language used to create web pages. In the new site, all changes are made through a specially designed administrative web application that can be accessed from any computer with a browser, as long as the person making the changes has the proper login information. Maintaining and adding information has become far more accessible, as neither familiarity with HTML nor any special software are required on a user's computer.

Completely separating appearance through use of templates and content through use of the administrative application greatly simplifies maintenance of the site. This allows for limitless flexibility, where all of the elements can grow and evolve easily, as necessary. Not only were the Metropolitan Opera Guild's immediate needs for a site redesign satisfied, future redesigns would be at very low cost. This permits those redesigns to be scheduled more frequently, allowing the site to stay fresh and appealing to the audience.

The Metropolitan Opera Guild's web site is housed on a server at TAG Online's data center, located in Montclair, New Jersey. This facilitates ongoing support of the site by TAG Online's knowledgable staff, and also offers the advantages of a secured facility redundantly connected to the Internet. The database storing the content of the Metropolitan Opera Guild's web site is stored on a separate data server. Though it is also housed within the TAG Online data center, this data server resides on a separate network from the web server, providing enhanced security for and protection of the stored information.

TAG Online, Inc. has been creating and hosting websites since the beginning of the World Wide Web in 1993. They are committed to creating elegant and powerful Internet software solutions using the best programming tools and offering unrivalled quality of service and personal attention to their clients. The talented staff at TAG Online has a knack for assisting customers in discovering their visions and transforming those ideas into attractive, functional, user friendly web sites, big or small. TAG Online welcomes any business that needs a website, wants to upgrade their website or that is unhappy with their current web and/or hosting company. Businesses looking to use the interactive nature of the Internet to facilitate sales, client retention, product support and sales support will also find TAG Online to be an indispensable partner.

For more information, please contact Amy Gideon at TAG Online: 6 Prospect Village Plaza, Clifton, New Jersey 07013, www.tagonline.com phone: (973) 783-5583, fax: (973) 783-5334, email: staff@tagonline.com