Annoying Error on National Web Site?

[JC004]

I am getting a prompt to enter a password when I go to gocivilairpatrol.com.  The web site loads under it (except for a broken piece), but something seems to be out of whack (that is, other than the list of items that members identified on the thread about how we'd fix the National site).  Is anyone else having this trouble? 

[vento]

Yup, it is asking for a password in the public section. OPSEC perhaps? 

[JC004]

It doesn't stop the site itself from loading...it's just generally horrible.  I am having a hard time identifying it due to the excessive use of Flash, which is making it hard to just get properties on stuff.  I think it's the broken image...

This freaking site drives me insane...

[DakRadz]

Same 'ere, sir. Dunno why, but I'll chalk it up to general NHQ-ness.

[Pylon]

 :clap: :clap:

Nice.  The first thing the general public will see when they try to find something out about CAP will be... a password prompt.

[DakRadz]

Oh dear. Not thought of that one.

That might have been a red-light for me last year when I was thinking about joining...

Yup, it is asking for a password in the public section. OPSEC perhaps? 

I agree with the "emphasis mine" part... 

[JC004]

It's probably the fault of the jacked-up CMS that they are using which doesn't even freaking shrink the thumbnails and leaves a page at several megabytes for no reason.  I've heard a lot of bad things about this CMS implementation, in addition to what I see plainly on the site (like the MASSIVE page file sizes).

I still say that I could have got this site done for free (and awesome) with a few key people like some graphic designers (since I'm a developer rather than a designer).  My CMS would have been awesomeness too.   

We all make mistakes.  I don't develop sites anything like I did 10 years ago.  My process is radically different than I was even using 6 months or a year ago.  I've spent a lot of time improving it and integrating best practices.  Nonetheless, the mistakes that were made here by the contractor and CMS company should be fiiiiiixed.

[Pylon]

It's probably the fault of the jacked-up CMS that they are using which doesn't even freaking shrink the thumbnails and leaves a page at several megabytes for no reason.  I've heard a lot of bad things about this CMS implementation, in addition to what I see plainly on the site (like the MASSIVE page file sizes).

Yeah, I've noticed to "no real thumbnails" thing across the CAP NHQ website for some time now.  If they paid anybody to develop their website for them, they got ripped off.  That's extremely amateur hour.  I mean, we were making fun of people who did that on websites like 8 years ago. 

Even free, off-the-shelf CMS's come with auto-thumbnailing.  It's not complicated.  And any web designer and programmer who's worth their salt wouldn't overlook that.  It's not just something that matters to geeky people either... it's a big mistake because it dramatically affects website performance for people visiting your site.  That can and does increasing page load sizes by 1000%+.   

The sad thing is, they probably did pay a hefty penny for that site to be developed.   

[JC004]

The CAP University page, one of my favorite examples, is 2.10 MB.  That's uncalled for...The senior members shaking hands alone is 1,214px × 1,109px (scaled to 129px × 124px) and 395.35 KB.  This image on the DDR page is over 3 MB... http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/COS_07_004_7C8585188A650.jpg

Web Page Speed Report
URL:   http://www.capmembers.com/drug_demand_reduction
Title:   The size of this web page (4654228 bytes) has exceeded the maximum size of 3000000 bytes.
Date:   Report run on Sun Jun 27 05:28:05EDT2010

The size of this web page (4654228 bytes) has exceeded the maximum size of 3000000 bytes.

The styles/formatting on the pages are totally different.  A good CMS implementation would solve this issue.

From what I've heard from people who have worked with the CMS on the insides, it's pretty bad.  *sigh*  The company who makes the thing clearly understands us well though - considering they classify us in part as "recreational" on their portfolio.     Their web site is a disaster too.  It looks like it is from 10 years ago with a couple modern design elements thrown in.


Government and Recreational
Civil Air Patrol
Citizens Serving Communities Above and Beyond

members.gocivilairpatrol.com

Comprised of over 55,000 volunteer members, the Civil Air Patrol provides a wide range of services such as disaster relief, homeland security, and reconnaissance missions.

[CAP Producer]

NHQ is working on resolving this. See below from the CAP Facebook PAge:


"Virtual Atlantic, the company that hosts www.gocivilairpatrol.com, is having technical difficulties. This results in a pop-up box requesting a log-in when you visit the site. In order to access the website, simply close the pop-up box.
Thank you for your patience as we work out these issues and our apologies for any ...inconvenience."

Linky: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maxwell-Air-Force-Base-AL/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164

Thank you.

[Pylon]

Except Virtual Atlantic is a web design company, and gocivilairpatrol.com is actually hosted by RackSpace.

And any web hosting service worth more than a few dollars would correct any issue like this within 60 minutes.  Again, any web hosting service worth anything has 24/7 technical support. 

But it's actually not likely a hosting issue.  It's almost positively a site design/coding problem.

[JC004]

Except Virtual Atlantic is a web design company, and gocivilairpatrol.com is actually hosted by RackSpace.
...

reseller?   

this other company that is hosted next to us isn't showing these errors

[Eclipse]

Is this related to the rework of eServices?

I noticed today that it has a new look and the nag screen about my password is "broken".

[JC004]

I wouldn't think so.  It's on gocivilairpatrol.com...the one with the Flash/grunge design screen explosion. 

[SarDragon]

I'm not seeing the bogus login thing anywhere now. Looks like it's fixed.

[JC004]

...and that image is appearing now.  I just can't click on it because it has the Triangle Thingy.

[PhoenixRisen]

Password box: fixed

gocivilairpatrol.com: still one huge failure