Webmaster, FacebookMaster, Forum?

[duncan]

Is there a forum or gathering place where we can exchange ideas and examples?

[Ozzy]

It would be smart, there really doesn't seem to be a specific area for IT-related posts on captalk. Lobby or Tools-of-the-Trade seems to be the closest

[duncan]

Yes - I'd like steal some ideas, and perhaps provide a few. Need to suggest this to whoever makes up the permanent categories.

[Eclipse]

It's been discussed here before, with the consensus being "not enough interest for a separate board".

If you drop the question or issue into the Lobby, it'll get read and beaten to death.

[etodd]

Are you using the new template for your Squadron's local website? I took the Wordpress template and modified it a bit to create ours. Added the Facebook block into the homepage:

http://www.tuscaloosacap.org

[duncan]

Nicely done "Todd". I am the IT Director of COWG and have not worked so much on the "pretty" aspect, but we have a well-integrated Wing-level website using DNN. http://cowg.cap.gov where all member access and qualification population is controlled via daily automated CAPWATCH download. New members get placed into their respective squadrons, and old members and their responsibilities get culled. I can set "roles" to control who can see, and who can modify any page or module with a page. Has good tracking of document check-in/out and usage. Integrated calendars, but am migrating to Google calendars. The e-mail system has over 20 auto-maintained email distribution lists, i.e. everybody is on the "announcement" list, but only pilots on their list, Cadets, FRO's, Safety Officers, AeroEd, Group level distribution control, SPOT alerts, etc. We have a separate but similar mission alert system using both emails and pagers. The units have sub-pages and easy to control their permitted authors, which changes a lot! It is hard to get well qualifed help, but the system rocks otherwise.

[etodd]

Nicely done "Todd". I am the IT Director of COWG and have not worked so much on the "pretty" aspect, but we have a well-integrated Wing-level website using DNN. http://cowg.cap.gov

Nice! We are not looking for all the interactive uses ... yet. (Our Wing website has most of that) The one I built (it was just recently) is primarily to separate out the marketing side for our Squadron.  Looking for good search engine listing placement. And a website where we can start adding publicity photos and info of events as they transpire. And a good place to market those events to the public prior to.  And of course to get folks headed to the FB page. This website is for outside use, not member use.  LOL

[duncan]

Understood. I concur that outside marketing should focus on good Facebook practices. I will need to fabricate a pseudo-member profile to properly share what logged in members can see and do. Besides each Group/Squadron sub-websites, There are 35 other sub-webs for categories like Comm, ES, Ops, Logistics, O-rides, Safety, Stan/Eval, If nothing else, it is handy to have a login-protected online Wing-level roster! Plus members can post pictures etc. that are not public-viewable and thus have more freedom.

[etodd]

http://cowg.cap.gov

Most of the website is very mobile friendly. But this page is not friendly on anything, especially mobile:

http://coloradowingcap.org/FindAColoradoSquadron/tabid/161/Default.aspx

And to me (a marketing guy), the "Find a Squadron" page should be high priority.  The local website links (the ones that are not 404) try to open in the page frame, which is always a bad idea. Set the target to "blank" and let it open a new window or tab. Try using this page on an iPhone, which arguably is where most potential Cadets would be seeing your site.

JMHOs of course. Grain of salt and all that.

[etodd]

According to Google:  "more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan."


So when working on website, we should always have our cell phones and iPads next to our keyboards. Verifying it all works across the board as we roll pages out. The big screen and large keyboard and mouse make design work easy, but the way it looks on the big screen isn't the end all anymore.

[Eclipse]

http://cowg.cap.gov

For a public-facing website you have way too much information jammed into one place, and no coherent design.  Your best bet would be to start
with either the a Wordpress or Google Sites template, and then slowly add-in links, pages, and modules as they are needed
vs. trying to provide every piece of information you can find.

Replicating resources NHQ already provides isn't a good idea, either.  Your "find a unit" page should just be a link
to the NHQ page that does the same thing.

http://cowg.cap.gov

Plus members can post pictures etc. that are not public-viewable and thus have more freedom.[/quote]

There's no such thing as "not public-viewable". If you can't post them publicly, don't post them at all.

[etodd]

Yep. The Cadets have all their own FB pages , Instagram and Snapchat apps they share photos with. The Squadron's FB page and Website should be carefully chosen photos designed to market to the public.

All that being said ... we are apples and oranges. I'm talking about a local Squadron website. Duncan's website is for a Wing, which has wholly different purposes, and goals.

[Eclipse]

I'm talking about a local Squadron website. Duncan's website is for a Wing, which has wholly different purposes, and goals.

Internally?  Maybe.

Externally, they should be just about the same, though I suppose you could make the argument that
a Wing's website's primary client is people who are already members, while a unit's may include recruitment of people
who aren't already in the club.

[etodd]

I suppose you could make the argument that
a Wing's website's primary client is people who are already members, while a unit's may include recruitment of people
who aren't already in the club.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Someone interested in learning about CAP and lives in Whoville, and Googles "whoville civil air patrol" ... hopefully a local Squadron website is at the top of the results.

The Wing websites are more internal. IMHO

[Spaceman3750]

Please, please do not put WordPress on a .gov. If you have no choice, keep it updated and do not install plugins unless you absolutely have to.

[etodd]

To take it further, I doubt any of my Squadron's members ever even look at the local website.  Its strictly advertising. For internal reminders of meetings, etc, they use Facebook. And Wing handles the Calendar's etc. And of course eServices, WMIRS, etc. etc. is all national.  Which makes it easier for me to focus totally on marketing and PR when working on the website. Its a singular focus.

[etodd]

Please, please do not put WordPress on a .gov. If you have no choice, keep it updated and do not install plugins unless you absolutely have to.

Our Squadron website is not hosted on a .gov website. Its strictly marketing and hosted elsewhere. 

[Spaceman3750]

Please, please do not put WordPress on a .gov. If you have no choice, keep it updated and do not install plugins unless you absolutely have to.

Our Squadron website is not hosted on a .gov website. Its strictly marketing and hosted elsewhere. 

That's cool; it was intended more as a blanket statement.

[Eclipse]

Its strictly advertising. For internal reminders of meetings, etc, they use Facebook.

I can't even begin to tell you how viscerally that sentence makes me react.  The world is what the world is, neither CAP, nor I,
are (is?) going to change that, but AdBook is no way to run  something like a CAP unit, and no one ever seems to
have a good response to "How do your youngest cadets get the information?".

https://www.facebook.com/terms

"5. You will not use Facebook if you are under 13."

[etodd]

Please, please do not put WordPress on a .gov. If you have no choice, keep it updated and do not install plugins unless you absolutely have to.

Our Squadron website is not hosted on a .gov website. Its strictly marketing and hosted elsewhere. 

That's cool; it was intended more as a blanket statement.

I understood it that way. 

Keeping it separate. Just easier that way. More flexibility.