Numismatic Societies and the Internet

Adrian Nicholl

It is in all our interests as numismatists to make use of internet technology in a way that is informative and attractive to the general public - who are out there, on the web, in their millions. This is a new and accessible audience for the hobby, as some of them must be potential collectors - not to mention the opportunity of reaching those who are already collecting, but not involved in any traditional club or society.

It is not difficult to put together a simple web site that is colourful and interesting, and the only cost involved is the time it takes. It doesn't have to contain the answers to every coin-related question anyone could possibly ask, and it doesn't have to be chock full of fancy graphics or animations to be worthwhile and productive. What is necessary, however, is an approach that is friendly and welcoming to visitors, and a site structure that is simple to find your way around, with content that is well-written and illustrated.


The first thing to do, before sitting down at your computer, is decide what to put in the site. Obvious things are your club programme and meeting arrangements, much as you probably already have on your membership card. You may want to add something about your club's history, with maybe a general introduction to the hobby, or anything else for that matter. You will also need to provide a means of getting in touch, probably your secretary's phone number and an e-mail address - but please note that I do not recommend the use of surnames or home addresses on a web site for security reasons. Once you have your content ready, decide on a pleasing colour scheme, which should be consistent throughout the site, and work out how it is all going to be structured - in exactly the same way as you would decide the layout of a magazine article. Finally, find some pictures! These can be scanned in and should be saved in JPEG format for easy compression. You should ensure that these are not too big, as one of the best ways to put a visitor off is a web page that takes ages to download (by big I mean file size, not the physical size of an image - the two are not necessarily related). Note that if a transparent sheet of some sort is put over the glass of a scanner to prevent scratches, coins can be put directly onto it and scanned in without the need for a photograph.


There are many web page development tools available on the market, but for a straightforward site you can use one you almost certainly already have on your computer - Frontpage Express, part of Internet Explorer, which comes with Windows. Netscape users can try Composer, which is part of the Communicator package. You will need to invest some time getting to know whichever product you decide to use, but you will not have to know any programming at all, as they work just like word processors, and handle all the complicated stuff themselves. If you are familiar with personal computers in general, you will be able to do it. Then, create your site and upload it to your webspace (your service provider will give you advice on exactly how to do this).

Please remember to publicise your web site and e-mail address on your club stationary, advertisements, and diary listings. It is also a good idea to list the site on as many search engines as possible - simply visit one, such as AltaVista, Yahoo, or Lycos, and click on the "add a site" link which will be there somewhere. Good luck!