Any webmasters out there?!
 

Hey fellow GC-ers... are any of y'all the webmaster for your particular GLO?! I was figuring that we could give some constructive criticism :p and give each others ideas. Lemme know if anyone's interested!

My page is: here

Well, have a great day everyone!
:D

That's a great page. I don't know if you've done this already but our webmaster (who is an alum) did an interesting thing with our site. Everything is modular and can be edited easily by any officer that is granted the password. I can add news release type info, change the roster, check rush registration and several other things from the operations menu there.

It makes it a lot easier to have an alum that shoulders the actual title of webmaster and then leaving the officers of the chapter to update the sections that they are individually responsible for.

I am the Webmaster for my (soon-to-be) chapter of DG. We can't officially publish a web page until we receive our charter (Nov. 17th baby!!). But the page is already built and everything...officers have seen it. I'm doing mine just like kt's above...it's a content management system called PHP Post-Nuke. Very easy to use, but you must know some UNIX commands - other than that it's a piece of cake...it's neat because you have have message boards (we will have one general public board, one board for sisters only, and a hidden board for officers only - but only officers will know this exists), photo galleries, and calendars that officers (or whomever has premission by the webmaster) can change and add to as well. It's an easy system to learn and so much better than just HTML...best of all, it's free! The only drawback is you have to have a company that has MySQL and a few other programs to host your page...university servers usually don't support these kinds of pages. We were lucky to have a company donate space to us - so we are hosting it for free. I'll make sure to post the URL when we are all up and running in a few weeks!

Your web page looks great though...one of the better pages I've seen. The only suggestion that I would have is when you click on the photo's have them come up in a smaller, non navigatable, window...instead of a full size window...it looks awesome though...I love the way it is so easy to find things...very well organized!!

Hey guys, thanx for comments. My brother mentioned somthing about PHP and stuff, so it's easier to update... but I am pretty sure the university site doesn't support SQL :( And I am actually in the process of updating the photo page... the exact way that u said. [WhiteDaisy128], using javascript to open up a new unnavigatable window... still in the process though!!

More comments are welcome, and WhiteDaisy128, i'll look foreward to checking out your page. :D

I sent you a PM Stevie!

THANX :D

I am a webmaster also of the Northern Arizona Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi .

I like your page alot, but one little thing I noticed is the group photo on your main page looks a little red in coloring, it may just be the fact that it is surrounded my so much red, but you may want to take it into photoshop or something and lower the red level. I think the picture will become clearer that way.

Hey nauadpi, good point about the picture, i never noticed it.. probably because I made it. lol. I like your page too, but I'm getting a runtime error on a few of your pages... and on the main entrance page, you may want to take away the border by typing in border=0 in the html code of the image. I think that that might look better, without a border, since it turns up red when you run your mouse over it... but the colors of the picture are green, blue, and grey. (just a suggestion).

Other than that.. NICE :D

Well since we are an official chapter now here is our web page:

http://www.ncsudeltagamma.org

I'm really kinda down and out though, because my officers like the site, but have told me they don't plan on using the message board or anything like that...it just hurts because they have no idea how much work it took to get everything up and running...and then they don't know how helpful it could be for the chapter...<sigh> guess I'm just in a bummed out mood...:(

as i said before, GREAT PAGE!!! I like your calendar, I've been looking for a good to use for my page.

I know what you mean about hte webpage. I love it how we're supposed to come up with the design, color scheme, AND the info... :rolleyes:

axotiger... your page couldn't be found... maybe you were working on it while i was trying to log on. :confused:

anyway... i have been the webmistress for the chi delt site for the past 3 years or so. i am FINALLY passing the reigns over to a new member who has Flash skills. But here is what I have done.

http://home.earthlink.net/~chidelta

:D

Nice sites ladies!

This is one of the better sites I have seen, done by TechAphi:

http://www.techaphi.com/

chideltjen,
it should work, maybe the clemson server was down at that time... mhmmmmmm. I like your site. :D aw, are you sad to pass the reins down to someone else. I need to get some flash on my site. Im going home for thanxgiving, my brother will help me :)

James, I agree... that is an AWESOME site!! :cool:

Guys here is another website . . .

This is Gamma Phi . . .

Go to their scrapbook and take special note how well their pics are done and how easy to manipulate them they are.


http://www.ucrgammaphi.com/main.html

James you probably know how you do that, but for those that don't... make a folder of the pics you want in a 'gallery.' then in photoshop (prolly 6.0 or so)... i think it's export or something. you can take that folder you created and make a webpage from them. And then just post the code to your site. The DG webmaster on our campus did that. I thought it was pretty convenient.

Some other groovy sites from our campus:

www.saczbt.org
www.sigepcsus.edu
www.csus.edu/org/greek/phisig (i think... try different combos)

or check them all out: www.csus.edu/org/greek

Thanks axotiger for the compliment. I enjoyed what you did with your site. (It finally worked...:D )

They just don't know the usefulness of it yet. Our chapter needs a private message board becasue it's more secure then email. Our University snoops (reads) all the email we recieve at our .edu addresses.

Don't let them get you down WhiteDaisy. That's one of the best amateur efforts I've ever seen. In fact, all of you are blowing my mind. I was the original webmaster for my chapter way back in '97 and it didn't look anything like what you guys have got going on. The site is still up but the only part that's mine is the header .gif's without the animation.

www.colorado.edu/Greeks/APhi

Re: Any webmasters out there?!
 

Awesome website! There's a great amount of content and it is well-presented.

Whitedaisy, your website is soooo AWESOME! Very functional and nice layout

Well here is the update. I am going to resign as webmaster for my chapter. They brought me into the chapter management team meeting and basically told me that I had to redo the entire page. I have worked so hard on it and I'm not quitting because I didn't get my way, but instead because they are making it too hard really for anyone to be webmaster by requiring approval for everything on the site, meaning announcements and everything. I am going to have 19 hours of classes next semester and I can't handle both of them at once. The current content management system that I am using is easy and functional, but not what they want. It's so simple to keep up with on my behalf. I do not have time to fully develope a regular HTML site and then constantly be waiting on premission to put things on it. I'm very frustrated at this point. Needless to say.

I have been doing web developement for North Carolina State University since my sophomore year in high school on their distance education pages. I know what a good page is and what one is not. I do not want to put a page on the net that I am not proud of. With what they want, I would not be proud of.

I'm not sure what else to do.

Whitedaisy hun... your site had more information and options available than necessary (good thing). What more do your officers want? It looked like it had all the basics... history, photo gallery, calendar of events that can turn into a recruitment calendar, msg board,... the works. But don't give up. I mean if you have to resign due to classes, understandable... i have to give up mine cuz i am graduating in the spring. But I would talk to them about it again. Maybe come up with a flowchart of some sort labeling all the basics necessary and then throw in a couple extra things. Go over it with them.

It's gonna be like the designer/client discussion. I can PM you more details about it if you want.

Trust me... they are going to need a website. And if you are the only one with HTML skills in the house, they will listen to your ideas. Trust me... :D ;)

yeah, i kinda know where you're coming from. I took over webmaster last year cause, quite frankly, it hadn't been worked on in 4 years and it sucked. So I was desperately TRYING to figure out what to put on, how to lay it out, and i was trying to get the president to give me the information. Did she no. So I was in charge of finding the information, figureing out a color scheme, layout and all the crap. Then I was finished and it was fine. Then we got a new president and at the end of year (right before finals) she was like.. well you need to re-do it. since all the potential rushees got a card with all the sororities webpage links.. and nothing more. So that was their first impression. So i was like.. cool, i have half the summer to do it.. NOT during finals. But then she was like, can u have it done before you leave? I was like.. uh hell no. Also the program i used to make graphics was being weird on my computer. Anyway, i had the final product out a week or 2 after finals.... and she wanted to change the color scheme. (its hard to make red and green work well w/o being too busy... so i used neutral yellow, with red and green around and stuff) So i sat with her on instant messenger for 2 hours while i tried different colors and we figured out what to do... at the end she was like.... oh i guess u were right, it is hard to do the color scheme.. what u had was fine. AHHHHHHHHHHh :o
People who don't know annoy me. THEN she tried to screw with the pictures i had, only wanting like 2 from each event. Personally i think people like to look at pictures to get a feel for the girls ya know. but whatever.
Now that rush is over, i'm doing what i want. and since im the only one who knows how to write this crap, she can only make 'suggestsions' now. :D

ok enough venting. quick question, anyone know code to have a good calendar (or a free service)... where i can edit it maybe online or somthing... not through HTML code?
THANX

The problems on the web page that they see is that there is TOO much information on there. The way I see it, the audiance for the web page will be PNM's, other DG's, other Greeks, and parents. They WANT to see everything we are doing. They want to know that we do social events but ALSO community events. The chapter management team ONLY wants pictures and history on the page. No sister list, no calendar, no announcements, no message board (whether it is private or public), nothing like that. I just don't want to put my name on a page that I do not feel represents us well. I am so proud of DG and I want everyone to see how many awesome things we do. I want to have the written announcements about going to the Gov. Morehead School for the Blind, I want people to know about the family we adoped for Christmas (what we have done for them, not like their names and stuff...). Isn't that supposed to be what a web page is for? In this day and age it is the window to what's going on in a chapter. A place the whole world can see what you are all about?

I have presented my case to my VP, the Pres, and the whole chapter management team three times. They still want it redone. I just don't think I'm willing to work on something that I would not want my name on.

I agree wholeheartedily (sp?) with you on that... people DO want to see what you've got goin' on... and see how awesome you are. Especially other chapters. I know when I was redoing my page, I went to nearly every AX page on the web that I could find... to see what we were doing, how involved we were, did we look like we had fun..etc. Hopefully your exec will come around one of these days... good luck

Here is my design tip for you all...

Less is definitely more. (God I can here my professors now...)

The one thing I did notice during my second look at the DG page was that there are about 3 consecutive links to get to one page... more specifically... I clicked on the "Sisters" link. Then I had to chose an option between alumn and actives or something (fine). THen I had to go thru another link which basically said the same thing... and so on so forth.

Point being... websites need to be straightforward. You can have all the crazy gimmicks, flash animations, frames, advanced message systems, etc... but if a viewer gets lost in a series of links, they are going to skip over the page. I don't know if that is just the program you are using or what.

IMHO... (take it with a grain of salt if you want) a greek webpage should consist of the following:
- A homepage with maybe a picture or two, maybe throw in an announcement or two (XWS sorority wins Greek Week...etc) You don't need a whole paragraph explaining it because people on the web may just skip over it cuz it's too long. I know i don't like reading essays on websites. If you MUST explain your latest victory, do so on another page/java window/etc.
- A history page that has national history (if you are national) and your local history. Here you can include a brief description of your symbols, colors, etc, but you don't HAVE to include detailed pics of them. (More pics equal longer downloading time... not all PNMs are going to have cable modems.) And if you have room, include your awards or something... again... optional.
- A photo album of some sort: keep this simple!!!! It will take too much time to DL each photo if you have scanned every single picture from every event and smacked it on your site. Rule of thumb: try to get the basics for the semester and make sure each sister is in at least ONE picture. If you must, break it down into social events (incl formals), philanthropy events, sisterhood events, maybe some rush pics.
- Recruitment info... this is pretty self explanatory. Again, keep is simple. PNMs are probably going to be looking for dates and times.
- Philanthropy info: this can probably be included on the history page. But explain what you do, who the organization you are supporting is, etc.
- Contact page: This is IMPORTANT! You need to have a page where you have the webmaster's email, the presidents, recruitment chair's, alumna advisor (or whomever is in charge of alum stuff) and maybe your social chair's email. This is how people will contact you.

Optional pages:
Calendar page... the only reason I have a calendar page is because there are alumnae in the area still that might wanna show up to events. But in all honesty... it's one of the least looked at parts of my site. If you absolutely have to have one... an elaborate one is not necessary. I would just type out the events and date in tables.
Sisters page... I would add this page if you had the space. It isn't that necessary either but it's kinda neat to see who is in the sorority or if you recognize names. Profiling each sister is a big hassle so don't do it. Maybe include the emails of the sisters if you don't have a contact page. But again... do it if you have the time.
MSG board: guestbooks are fun and all but you gotta keep an eye on them. I have had plenty of drunken madness and crazy fraternity guys sign stuff on our guestbook... and then just turned around and deleted it. A large scale MSG board (phbbh or whatever comes to mind) isn't all that necessary either. A simple guestbook is fine (as I am finding out with my sorority this semester.) Just as long as people can give shout outs or for PNMs to request info (of course they can always email you too.)

On a side note: what program is everyone using to come up with their sites? I am using Dreamweaver 4. I LOVE it! Did the Frontpage thing.... yeah... not too many options.

axotiger... red and green are compliments and look fabulous together in print and on the web. I am surprised you had some trouble coming up with a scheme. hmmm... i know they are your colors... but maybe try different tints and shades?

Ok I wrote a novel... blah... now no one is gonna wanna read this cuz it's too long ;) :p

DreamWeaver
 

ChideltJen--

If you like DreamWeaver 4, consider upgrading to the new DWMX that was released this summer. It's even more powerful when it comes to automation and customizing!

Adrienne

i have mx studio but haven't really tried out dreamweaver yet... i figure i know 4 pretty well so i will stick with that for a lil while.

I will be redoing our chapter website but am making every effort to include as much people as possible in the process. With some of the larger chapters it may be nearly impossible, but I think if you get opinions of what everyone wants in it, you can come up with something great that the entire chapter (not just the webmaster) will like. The website should represent everyone, not just the tastes and likes of one person.

But it's just a suggestion :)

I personally think your site [white daisy] is really cute but like chideltjen mentioned, getting lost in links can be frustrating. Instead of just appeasing the exec, try getting lots of people involved to see what the entire sorority wants :)

chideltjen-
VERY good suggestions, thanx! The red green thing... i dunno, the thing that took the time was the shades and whatnot. Cause the first verison, i had red and green..a nd my pres was like.. can u change the color (which was annoying since all the graphics i made i made with the background color)...she said that people have been coming up to her saying they dont like the red and green, i was like.. uh... u mean u dont want me to use our colors?! riiiiiiiiight. (it was annoying) so i chose a neutral yellow.

program - uhh, I'm hard coding my webpage with HTML and javascript stuff. Where do you get dreamweaver from and what way does it help?! :D

thanx everyone
ps- even though i started this post... i like it.. it's helpful :cool:

Dreamweaver is by Macromedia also Adobe makes their own program too. I find both of the programs helpful, because you can just place items with them then go back and look at the code and adjust things more specifically. The only factor is that both these pieces of software are comercial software, so in turn are not cheep. But one thing to keep in mind is to check for student discounts...In reality there are lots of programs to help design webpages, the only program I would say to stay away from is Microsofts Frontpage. This is because the server hosting the site has to have frontpage extensions loaded, and still there can be conflicts with some systems, even windows machines. Just something to keep in mind.

axotiger - i am gonna PM you... I don't know if everyone wants to know about color theory... ;)

DOH i forgot some stuff in the novel i wrote earlier...

Images should be 72 dpi. If you have photoshop, go to "save image for web." make sure the photo is about 2x3 or so inches on screen. 200 dpi images are what i have on my site. they are ok, but they take forever to load. If you have many many photos, use 72 dpi. But at the same time, you lose quality, hense me using images at 200 dpi. It's kind of a no win sitch.

Try to stay away from animated GIFs. If you enlarge them on screen, they can become very pixalated. Messy... :( And they can just be plain cheesy as well.

Stick to a neutral background and either black or white text (depending on the background) for body copy. Headlines can be bright colors but again, clarity is an issue when reading hot pink text. Also stick to a default text for body... avoid comic sans, etc for typing your history out... and so forth.

last but not least... SPELL CHECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! nothing is worse when trying to read about an organization and it looks like the webmaster failed remedial english.

That is crap! Your page is so so awesome and I will adopt you as my assistant webmaster...I was so impressed with your page, you have no idea. You did an awesome job and them bossing you around like that is soo sooo uncalled for!

I can see both sides of where they're coming from, but I think you're right-- you definitely need more on your site than just photos and history!

That said, I agree with what other GC'ers have mentioned-- you need to have *direct* links to the info, and not have to go through tons of screens to get to a list of the sisters.

On my page, I have an index page, then a home/news page with direct links to:

* National History
* Chapter History
* Current Events (includes calendar, past activities, philanthropy)
* Recruitment (includes formal recruitment and COR info)
* List of members (includes name, offices, hometown, major)
* Symbols & Creed
* Chapter Awards
* List of All Chapters
* ADPi alumnae
* Delta Chi Epsilon and Phi Omega alumnae (we changed in '98)
* Greek Links
* Photos
* Guestbook and Contacts

Do you need *all* of that? Nah. But you need direct links to a history page, your current events or calendar, your recruitment info (for campus and for informal recruitment), your list of members, your photos, and your contact info. Each of these is something to link to *immediately*, not four menus down.

History page and symbols/creed give your PNMs info about your org in general. Current events tell PNMs and members what your chapter is doing now. Recruitment tells PNMs how they can join your org. List of members is great for recruitment because then PNMs can see if your sisters are from the same town or in the same program of study (study buddies!!!). Photos show your chapter in action, and create some interest in your org, and your contact or guestbook page allows visitors to contact you. It should have your address, chapter email, national web address, chapter/house phone, advisor's name, president's name, and their email or phone.

I don't think you really need a message board, and you don't need to show a list of registered users to your web page. The first is nice, but not necessary; a yahoogroups mailing list works just as well. The latter doesn't really seem necessary unless only sisters can register as members, and even then, the rest of the world probably doesn't need to know their usernames! -grin-

That said, I *love* the color scheme! You worked hard on the design, and it's pretty great stuff overall. Just make sure you have direct links to the stuff that's important.

Your sites are amazing!!!!!

Ok I need help!
I am doing my chapter's site, which i managed to crash two days before i left for italy. Go figure. Good thing the other groups on campus don't have sites!
green and gold...???horrid on the comp!!
i am having the hardest time getting it to all look right. i need a lot of help with the photo part. i just have trouble getting the photo album feature of dreamweaver to work. how can i change it and stuff. do you know any good manuals that don't cost a ton of $$??
i found out some of the problems with it and they are my stupidity. but blah! so frustrating. I would appreciate help. i'll be back in um...yea 5 days!!! eek! so i'll be putting some long! hours in then...
Tau love!
Lil E