Website Of The Year.
http://www.ga045.org/ (http://www.ga045.org/)
That's a potentially controversial topic right off the bat given how subjective the topic is. So many great units out there that are investing volunteer hours in developing cadets, or practicing SAR/DR techniques, or educating people in the power of aerospace. So many great units that, for luck of the draw, don't have an IT team or a group of content developers with free time to develop and post content. I want to get that out up front, in the spirit of bowing in tribute to the many, many units that are out there that may have undiscovered countries of content and talent.
So. Having said that, I was surprised this past week to find that my unit had been singled out for recognition at the National Conference for a best website award (sorry, I didn't put us in this year for a dang thing - don't know how that happened but I am thankful!). Web site design is (sadly) pretty low on my priority list as a Squadron Commander, except in as much as it supports good operations of the unit. I'd like to recognize my S4 and IT designer (LT Scott Davis) and my multiple Balsem Award winning PA (LTC Brian Berry) as well as the Georgia Wing IT staff (MAJ Sam Levie) who all provided solid infrastructure, graphics, coding, and technical input to support a good design, based on a template that we updated a bit (we altered the NHQ provided Mt. Rushmore front page graphics to a local Stone Mountain GA image).
Teammates, what constitutes a "winning" design? Supporting backbone is one issue. Site design is another. Content development is a third. Staying on top of updates and calendar inputs is another (we see so many local and Wing sites that haven't had updates in a couple of years!). There are, I'm sure, many really great sites out there, many arguably far better than ours. I'd like to hear suggestions and comments to make ours better, and to generally raise the bar for all of us, so we don't rest on our laurels in service to our members and our customers.
Thoughts and comments? Suggestions for "Excellence in All We Do"?
V/R
Spam
PS - some thoughts:
- Google calendar is easy to update every SUN night for our local MON night cadet call down/report up for test requests/activity sign ups.
- Google calendar, updated off of Google, updates on our website nicely from all devices.
- Google calendar is hard to attach Form 32s and configure them for public viewing.
- We've had to rely on handing out Form 32s to cadets, and pasting the content on the website "in lieu of", as a result.
- Any smart guys out there with suggestions?
- We're processing an update to add a modern Word press auto-rotate of front page images (shuffle six to eight good pictures, with the navigation 'dots' at the bottom, as you see on many modern websites). Any lessons learned/pitfalls to avoid?
I clicked the link, and thought I was misdirected to the national website for a moment.
Quote from: Starfleet Auxiliary on August 22, 2016, 07:20:27 AM
I clicked the link, and thought I was misdirected to the national website for a moment.
Umm... not sure what to make of that.
Is that good, or bad, from your viewpoint?
V/R
Spam
Congratulations...
:clap:
Good on 'ye for having a decent web presence at all, but I don't see what's so impressive here.
How many other sites were even submitted?
[nitpick]
You might review your orgs charts, CAP isn't the Army, and "officer" isn't the generic term for "adult members"
[/nitpick]
Quote from: Spam on August 22, 2016, 07:32:18 AM
Quote from: Starfleet Auxiliary on August 22, 2016, 07:20:27 AM
I clicked the link, and thought I was misdirected to the national website for a moment.
Umm... not sure what to make of that.
Is that good, or bad, from your viewpoint?
V/R
Spam
Well, it is good from a uniformity standpoint. Now that I'm fully awake though, I note some distinct problems.
1. Do something with the squadron name font. It looks jarringly out of place.
2. I realized I wasn't on the national website when all the links worked. Try breaking about 15% of your links to maintain compliance with the national website.
3. Your 404 page should have a picture of a cadet DFing for an ELT with a quizzical expression on his face.
4. Your historical slide show is well done.
And make sure you do the one thing that most CAP web pages fail at.
Keep It Current . . . .
Nothing makes a bad first impression quicker then a way out of date unit web page.
I didn't even know that this existed and I too wonder how many other websites were voted on.
Quote from: Eclipse on August 22, 2016, 03:04:56 PM
Good on 'ye for having a decent web presence at all, but I don't see what's so impressive here.
How many other sites were even submitted?