IntraNet, 3/24/97

Although Acxiom Corp. won't implement all of USWeb Utopia's recommendations, the process was revealing and helpful, if not a bit painful, says Roseanne Allen, the technical manager responsible for implementing AcxInet.

'We had reached many of the same conclusions,' Allen says. 'The site was cluttered and out-of-date. They had good ideas about how to clean it up and make the presentation tighter.'

As USWeb Utopia recommended, Acxiom is going with simpler graphics and striving to make the site easier to navigate. And it is adding many of its own twists, including the use of Microsoft Corp.'s ActiveX technology to push corporate news out to end users.

Allen says of the redesign process: 'Managing content as it grows is a lot of work, and at some point, you have to reexamine what you're doing. But you have to go into the redesign process leaving your ego behind. I won't say it wasn't painful at times. It's like your little baby, and somebody is telling you your baby is ugly.'