Re: [GSAS-board] Web site stuff

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

On Sat, 28 Feb 2009, Phil Lacefield Jr. wrote:

>>> We have ALWAYS provided a list of donor companies on the website after the 
>>> auction -- kept on for a whole year.  In fact, there's a list right now 
>>> showing all the donors of last year.  Take a look.  Really.  Red Sea is 
>>> even on there.  It's been on there since last year.
>
> Okay, well, where is it?  I've clicked on every link on the main page, and I 
> don't see any mention of Red Sea, sponsors, auctions or anything else.  That 
> kind of info, if not in banner form, should be really prominent, I'd think.

It's on the main page.  It's currently about 3 or 4 stories down in the 
"Latest News" section.

>>> cluttery banner ads that we are OBLIGATED to display due to a purchase 
>>> agreement, and pointless link exchanges with any club that asks us, etc.
>
> What is it about link exchanges you don't like?  I'm not being critical, I 
> just don't get it.  I mean, we're a club with, what, under 100 members?  Why 
> would we not want to share a link to our club with other clubs, and share 
> their links with our members?  If there's some precedent for this, or some 
> reason we don't want to, I'm all ears...

POINTLESS link exchanges clutter up the main page.  They have to be 
maintained.  They go out of date.  They serve no purpose to our members. 
There are other pages of pointless links out there.  There are lists of 
national clubs.  Why duplicate the effort?

DIRECTED links, such as to other clubs nearby, local events, etc, are 
helpful.  And there's not so many that the useful stuff gets lost in the 
mess.

Don't get me wrong -- I like the idea of having a separate page of auction 
sponsor graphics and links -- so long as it's on its own page and doesn't 
clutter the alread-too-cluttered main page.

>>> I'll tell you now, if that new logo ends up on it, I quit.  Otherwise, have 
>>> a blast!
>
> What, the one with the colors and extra bits I put in?  You don't like 
> it??  This makes Log Boy sad :-( Seriously, I don't want you to quit the 
> club over such a silly thing, tell me what you don't like and I'll 
> change it...

In my opinion, it's too busy with the added elements, and the blue/green 
color scheme looks garish.

I'm biased, of course, as I spent some time researching local native art 
for the artist who did it.  Part of the reason we changed it "back then" 
was that the predecessor was too busy.


> I'm more than happy to do the job - not like I haven't done websites 
> before, they just take time to manage, as you well know - but I really 
> don't want you quitting over the designs I use, or if I put up the wrong 
> logo or something.  Erik, you're a valuable member of this group, and I 
> for one don't want to be responsible for chasing you away!

I beleive that the site needs a major design overhaul, possibly splitting 
out things into more pages rather than using the same page.  It needs to 
be more navigable; one neeeds to be able to easily read the current news 
items, find out how to join, how to sign up for the e-mail lists, learn 
about BAP, and get to the sponsor list (as you point out) wihtout having 
to spend an hour poking around on that page.  I think the small sample 
articles should probably go, as they're now 10 years old.  The blue 
background is too dark to read the text easily.

I would be tickled pink if you wanted to have a go at fixing some of this 
and giving it a new look!!  I just don't like the logo changes. :P

   - Erik

PS: If you are serious, I can give you ssh access to update the files.

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com
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