Websites

[BlondeGurl]

Can anyone tell me any colleges where greeks have really good websites? I am looking because this year instead of sending out panhellenic pamphlets they are sending a postcard with all the websites of each chapter on it. So, of course, this is going to instigate a battle-of-the-web-page type deal on my campus and I am the webmaster for my chapter. I would just like to so some really good sites to get ideas from so if you know of any just post up the page. I really want to go hard on this because my chapter is new and we are looking forward to a good recruitment turn out during formal this fall.

[rainbowbrightCS]

well i have some ideas for you, like update it often, and put up a calender of sorts...
tons of pictures, but put names up.
and have several links: to the NPC, or the national website.

[jonsagara]

http://www.cpgreeks.com/

[AOII*Azra-elle]

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I know our international site has all the links of each collegiate chapter. Alot of the AOII sites use flash, or dhtml. Might have a look at those. Our internation site addy is http://www.alphaomicronpi.org and look under collegiate in the drop down menu. Might check out individual national sites and just check out each individual site.

[sherbertlemons]

I personally have always been impressed by our Epsilon Phi chapters website. University of Florida KKG It looks professional, and information is easy to find. (And just gotta put a plug for our big sister chapter!)

Oh, and something I've always liked- if you do a history section, try to put some chapter history on there. It irritates me when the history section is just the blurb from the national's website and nothing else! Good luck on the website.

[DGMarie]

Some advice from someone who has done consumer research on website design:

Update at least once per week if not more often. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. YOU WANT PEOPLE COMING BACK FOR MORE. Create an announcements section for this purpose. Praise a sister daily. Remind people of events. DON'T let you site sit stagnant. I can't tell you how many sites I see for sororities that were updated over a year or MORE ago, or who have a calendar from August 2002 and that is it. You can tell who the webmaster was; she graduated!!

Choose someone to be your webmaster who has some experience Even a little HTML experience goes a long way. Maybe a computer science or graphics design major would be appropriate. Most importantly, someone who is genuinely interested in doing it.

Figure out what you site is for. Is it for PR? Sisters only? both? Keep this in mind. You are appealing to two totally different audiences. Create a password protected area for sisters.


Take and post good quality digital photos Organize them into sections like Recruitment, Sisterhood, etc. Photos give you and your group life.

Pick a style and stick with it. Avoid making your site look like a Computer 101 class project where you tested out every font in the font menu. If you are Kappa for example, choose a Key theme and carry it out for a unified look.

Invest in some quality clip art or find good stuff online using PowerPoint clips online. Blinking, flashing and trailing cursor comments to be avoided unless you can say they don't look childish.

Avoid guestbooks Instead put a message board up for sisters only. I've seen too many guestbooks flooded with really poor taste comments that could've been deleted if the chapter webmaster was paying attention.

Avoid music Nothing worse than surfing the web at work and getting a sudden blast of your groups favorite song loud enough to hear four cubicles away.

If you are web un-savvy, try a free service like Geocities. They offer a pagebuilder software that is very easy to use and looks nice. You will get pop up ads, but that is the price for free service. If you already have free service via your school server, try out MS Frontpage. It has a little learning curve but the person responsible for your site should be able to handle this. If you are really skilled, you could go all out and do Flash programs using Shockwave of write some Java scripts or try a profession package like Dreamweaver.

That's all for now....

[WhiteDaisy128]

Hey, you might consider a dynamic site, they are much easier to keep udated than straight HTML. I recently went from HTML to a dynamic site because it's so much easier to manage a photo gallery, which is what I use my page for mostly. For my personal web page I use PHP PostNuke. I was the webmaster for our chapter, but because of disagreements between me and the executive board on what should be on the web page (yikes, long story - but seriously, who wants a web page with ONLY history and pictures...), I allowed someone else to take over (though, I have yet to see a new site)...but ANYWAY...my point is a dynamic system gives you a lot of options. Basically what it is, is a shell to work from and customize. It is very easy to update because all the information is stored in a database on the server...that means you can make changes through a special admin menu on the page - from any computer, anywhere...as long as you log in as the administrator. Each chapter memeber would have their own log in name and sections can be closed to the public...on that note, some sections can ONLY show up for sisters (or officers, or whatever group you want) so other people won't know it even exists. On my web page right now all I have is a photo gallery and a few other things, but you add just about anything you can think of - including message boards. I know it all sounds confusing, but it really is quite simple once you get it set up.

The only thing is you must have access to a server that has MySQL installed and PHP managing capabilities - most free school servers will not have this, but you can find a hosting company for a good deal - a lot give student discounts.

[Tom Earp]

You saw a name , Jon Sagara, Who I am Proud to call a Brother. Contact him!

He has the best web site for LXA Chapters. I try to find some for him that he does not have to help him out!!!!


Gosh, I wish I knew how to do this stuff, as I have some great Ideas but not the knowledge!

It is way above my poor old brain!

Damn Kids!!!!

[queequek]

Just try Stanford Greek System, I really like theirs, especially the IFC.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/IFC/chapters.shtml

Or MIT, eventhough most of them are hi-tech websites
http://ifc.mit.edu/members.php

Good luck

[UF56]

I would look at AOTT, ADPI, and DDD websites at UF they are very classy: www.ufpanhellenic.com

[texas*princess]

Originally posted by UF56
I would look at AOTT, ADPI, and DDD websites at UF they are very classy: www.ufpanhellenic.com

WOW

those websites are gorgeous!

[AlphaXiGirl]

Originally posted by UF56
I would look at AOTT, ADPI, and DDD websites at UF they are very classy: www.ufpanhellenic.com

These sites are great. I couldn't help but notice that all three of them were created by the same professional design studio. Any idea how much each chapter paid/is paying for the original layout and maintenance?

There is nothing at all wrong with hiring a professional to do your site for you but I wonder how many of our chapters can afford them.

Looking at other sites is a great way to get new ideas and help get the creativity flowing. Good luck Blondegirl and make sure to link your site here so we can see your finished product!

[FIJI-UC]

I've seen a lot of Greek sites in my life and honestly 90% (if not more) are horrible on many levels... most don't even update their site more than once a year and thus are completely useless. As many other people have said, keep your site up to date; use a dynamic script when possible (see www.hotscripts.com for some free scripts) and remember, content is key.

Here are a few FIJI chapter sites I like for various reasons:

http://www.ixfiji.com

http://www.student.richmond.edu/~fiji/

http://www.fsufiji.com

[aephi alum]

Originally posted by queequek
Or MIT, eventhough most of them are hi-tech websites
http://ifc.mit.edu/members.php

As long as you're checking out MIT, check out the sororities too.
http://web.mit.edu/panhel/www/

(Just don't look at AEPhi's, it hasn't been updated in a while... I may have to take back over as webmaster )

[GeekyPenguin]

One thing to work on is make sure you don't have glaring errors that offend other sororities...like saying "Alpha Phi is one of only three international sororities." I got that from the gorgeous MIT APhi site....but Gamma Phi, AGD, DG, KAT are all international, and that's just off the top of my head.