I have wanted to install this in ASCS’ site for a while now. I may have thought that it was going to be more of a pain-in-the-butt that what it really was!
Just click on the picture of Thommen and I to see what I mean. This is the perfect solution to a user-friendly, minimal back-button site navigation… well, as far as images go! Just click on the “close” button in the picture, or hit “C” on your keyboard, to close the picture!
Hello to all the club members and board members! Just wanted to detail some of the things I changed recently to the site.
First, there may have been some confusion for a few members who came to the site and saw the “Login” tab in the top menu bar. This was added earlier to make it easier for me (and anyone else whom I appoint as a contributor/administrator) to go to the login page for the Site Administration portion of the new site. It was not… repeat… not meant for most ASCS members to log in to the Club Community Forum. That login page is on the Forum portion of the site. Unfortunately, I received emails indicating frustration over the setup. Well, the best way for me to change this was to eliminate the “Login” tab entirely and make a link to the Forum Login page on the front page of this site. The site’s Administration login link is now at the bottom of the sidebar, safely out of the way. Going forward, if anyone is having problems with the site, please let me know ASAP. If you are having problems with the site, chances are others are having problems, too. Give me information on the specific pages (page addresses, starting with http://) you are having problems with.
Second, I made a comparison of this site versus my own site and noticed I made a error in the setup for page linking. So I fixed that as well. Reason: When you email a link to a page in this site, or bookmark it in your browser, http://seedcrackers.org/2007/06/15/bandit-spazy-play-head-games/ looks much better than http://seedcrackers.org/?p=12… and it’s a better indicator of what the visitor can expect.
Lastly, I helped Cliff post an important article about our ASCS Emergency Response Program. In fact, it’s so important to our club and our cause, that I even modified the sidebar to give it its due attention. Please read it and see what you can do to help our fellow members and avian friends.
I have one big thing planned for the site; I have the ASCS Member Videos main page in draft status and I’m brainstorming the best way to structure this upcoming feature. If anyone has suggestions, let me know via email. I know I have some vids I’d like to share with you all, and I also know some of you just have to have some vids you can share with the club. If anyone has videos to contribute, let me know and/or send them through email to me. I can convert most formats, and I can even embed YouTube videos on the site as well (they have to be yours, though!).
That’s all I have… Cheers!
As all of you can see, I’ve made quite a few changes to the site since last week. I guess writing that walkthrough was a wee bit premature, dont’cha think?
First, I’m sure you all have noticed what is now the Main page of the site. I did this because I wanted to keep a bit of continuity with the old site and have a welcoming screen. Also, it keeps the site from looking too blog-oriented. Since I did that, I figured I’d replace the “Home” button with “News”, since the postings from here on will be genuine Club-related entries. Added to that, I thought it’d be a nice touch to have the site update with an excerpt of the latest general club posting, right there on the front page. Kinda like that voice saying “Get in here and read!”
Second, I’ve just put the preliminary finishing touches on both of the “Links” and “Contact” pages. The Links page is set up to be a breeze to update, while the Contact page has some simple e-mail links for members and guests to use.
Third, I have some new pictures up. Some are from what I just recently talked about, but some others are new pics from our wonderful VP, Noelle. Check ‘em out, will ya?
Next on my agenda: A project from our membership champion, Cliff…. and updating the Photo gallery’s core web-application, ZenPhoto. They have some new features on it that will make my life a bit easier when it comes to all the member’s photos.
Cheers! 
I was very successful today in getting the ASCS Forum to look like the rest of the site does, for the most part. There’s only so much I can do with someone else’s code, with what little knowledge I have of Phorum’s special templates. I think I did an admirable job; I didn’t have to make it look radically different, just make it look more unified with the main site.
Next up: try to fix the font colors in the Photo Gallery, while still keeping the current color scheme and make it look readable! It may be tougher than I think…
