In this article, the author, a doctoral candidate from the School of Information at the University of Texas-Austin, describes the experience gathered from her attempt to redesign her existing Web sites in order to supply online resources for Slavic and Byzantine studies. The use of participatory design, which involves the users in creating the intellectual content, design, and navigation of a Web site, allowed the author to improve her three existing Slavic manuscript sites. Traditionally, there are three stages involved in participatory design: (1) Discovery--the researcher-designer gains the trust of the participants, explores their working practices, and studies their goals, values, and needs; (2) Site Evaluation--the participants explore and evaluate the Web sites, focusing on their strengths and weaknesses; and (3) Prototyping a Site--the participants take part in suggesting ideas, sketch concepts, and future developments in the field. The author found that the use of participatory design created a more intimate social atmosphere between the researcher and the participants, thereby making her feel more confident that she understood both the tacit knowledge and future needs of the users.