Website Hints
 

Although there have been some other threads on websites, I figured I'd chime in with my $.02 (after inflation). Here are some random things that jumped out at me after seeing some chapter websites.

1) Reasonable use of things like Flash is OK, but it should be possible to navigate your website and get important information without it. Likewise, Javascript can be OK, but be careful not to annoy the user.
2) Clean and simple is good. When in doubt, a plain white background may be the safest choice.
3) Consistency is also important. It should be clear to the user that they are on the same site. One thing that helps with this is keeping the same basic color scheme.
4) Unless there's a really good reason to use frames, you probably don't want to.
5) Keep information reasonably current. If the officer's page in Fall 2004 is displaying the officers from 2002 or earlier, it looks like nobody cares enough to keep the page up to date.
6) A digital camera might be a good investment for a chapter. If you just want the images for the web, and not to print, you can get by with something fairly inexpensive, maybe in the 3-4 MP range.
7) It's usually a good idea to use editing software with digital images. You can experiment with cropping and adjusting levels and color balance. Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard, but if nobody has this, then The GIMP is very nice for free software.
8) Have the picture display as actual size; it won't look as nice if the browser enlarges or shrinks it. If the image is very big, use editing software to scale it down.
9) Think before you design about what information you want to put on your site, and make sure that it's there and that users can readily find it. It's a good idea to get a number of other people to test it before it goes live, since they'll have different assumptions than the webmaster.
10) Usually, Javascript and Flash password protection is not an effective way to secure information. So if this is what you're using, you probably don't want any sensitive information in your members-only section.

Co-sign all of the above!

To add:

If you select to have music on your site (which is, in my opinion, probably not a good idea) - make sure to have a way to TURN IT OFF!!!

Co-sign again on the music-- it's annoying and unprofessional. I strongly recommend that you just leave it off altogether-- it can crash some browsers.

~ Mel.

Yeah, I agree on the music. One of the biggest considerations with a website is not turning visitors off. Therefore, things like sounds, animated images, blinking text, etc. are generally bad ideas. Oh yeah, and avoid the bad clip art too.

It's usually more impressive if your site reflects your individual chapter, rather than looking like a bad imitation of your national site. Pictures are good, and will probably be more interesting if some of them are candid shots (as opposed to posed). If you have a house, a picture of that will probably help. You could also have profiles of individual members, if they were well-done. In other words, make them seem interesting rather than just listing their major and year of school.

Re: Website Hints
 

You shouldn't have anything sensitive up there at all. The most secret and sensitive thing we have up on ours is member contact information. Any more than that and you're just asking for trouble.

There's nothing wrong with having a Flash website. Most people these days can see them and they do promote your chapter if that's what you want - hey even movies and bands are promoted this way.

Most people should not use Photoshop. There are a ton of image editing programs and a ton of programs to edit images for internet use.

Most people should not use 3-4MP cameras. Most people will not see the difference in pixels. They are expensive and the higher MP are useful for print. You don't need to be posting large files on a website.

No password is safe. None. Safes are sold with a number next to it. The number indicates the number of hours it takes to break into the safe. Telling someone not to use a certain password is ridiculous. Simply put don't put up sensitive info on the server.

-Rudey

Easy to navigate, show symbols, give links to National, Chapter History, School, Chapters if possible, Alum web Site if have one. List Officers, Members, Alums and Initiation #s if possible.

Brother Jon Sagara has a Fantastic Web Site for LXA Chapters. While it is not updated but soon will be ( getting a new server ), I have been able to help Him find dead sites and emailed him to update it.

You might want to check it on the LXA Thread and check it out to see what some of the LXA Chapters have done.

Maybe you should consider sharing your opinions about technology on Slashdot (http://slashdot.org). I'm sure that /.'ers would appreciate your perspectives as much as I do.

Thanks, I agree that links and navigation are important. I'm not convinced that it's a good idea to list member's badge numbers along with their names; it doesn't seem to buy the chapter anything. It could make impersonation easier, though most people who are into identity theft tend to do things that could actually make money.

While # is possible for theft, so is anything else.

Our Site for the Chapter has a list by Initiation #s it is great to see who is what. Beleive it or not, some do forget their #s. One being # 7 who had not been back for sometime.:rolleyes:

Actually, Photoshop can be a very strong design tool, if you know how to use it correctly (which also means using it to resize your large photos since a large low rez photo decreased in size looks much better than a small low rez increased in size.)

Ugh, yes. I realize that some groups provide a template, and that's nice for chapters who don't have tech-savvy people in them, but if I keep clicking on it and thinking I'm on the national site and trying to get to the local one, you probably need to be a little more creative.

I agree. I use photoshop to design sites and export everything HTML. This is because I am not saavy on Flash scripting and whatnot.

But neither are my sisters. Some are still on dialup. Flash sites are generally great if your audience is hooked up on cable modems. But for me, a girl who just NOW got on cable, Flash sites are a no-no. And quite a few of my sisters aren't computer saavy. If I make a site too flashy, they may just get confused and sick of it. Also think about your future designers. I'm not going to be webmistressing this site forever, so I have to make it simple enough for every future designer to update.

And a big huge Co-Sign on the music. I have been shown a couple of fan sites with high res MP3s playing in the background. Not only could I NOT turn the music off, there was one where TWO songs were playing at the same time. Mix that with my ITunes and I had a really bad mix session going on.

Just to give you an idea, here's a picture I took at a larger resolution with a 5.0 MP camera and edited with GIMP (which is sort of like a freeware version of Photoshop). The original resolution was 1600 x 1200, and I cropped and scaled it so it's now smaller. Some other things you might want to adjust with an editor are levels, brightness, contrast, color balance, and saturation.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...tery_small.jpg

What does that have to do with anything on webdesign???? It's just a general website geared towards "nerds" and mostly with IT info. Perhaps if you knew more about webdesign you would have directed me to a more applicable website.

I read slashdot and often post on there.

-Rudey