[2006-2007] Index page updates

[Wesley Tucker]

Also, Jani quickly updated the front page contest calendar link to now go to the 2007 topic.

This was pretty much the Administators dropping the ball (meaning me). CBark is doing a great job maintaing a comprehensive SLALOM race schedule on SS.com. We have also had the link on the front page but until recently it was forwarding anyone who used it to the 2006 topic.

I'll be honest: my favorite places goes STRAIGHT to the forums and I look at the front page maybe once a month. The calenday link delay just never caught my eye until a few days ago.

Oh, well.

[Jani Soderhall]

Updated today. It was about time.

A lot more could and should be done. If you want to write a few words on anything, please do. Then just email me and I'll put it up. No need for any long articles, just brief news items. Then we'll add a link into the forum to continue the topic.

/Jani

[Donald Campbell]

ok jonathan let's go



you've got mail

[Jani Soderhall]

Jonathan,

You're the man. I'll send you the FTP password and give you a first guided tour of the FTP site. Then you and Donald can get the work done in between the two of you. I'll be there to help you (with advice). If you want the front page completely redesigned I can volunteer the services of my friend Stefan "Lillis" Akesson, one of the best flatland freestylers in the world. He did the current design.

/Jani

[Jonathan Harms]

Jani and Donald, do I understand correctly that for now, you simply want the main page to be more up-to-date (and frequently updated), perhaps with a new story about a race, session or group of riders? If so, then I'm willing to contribute what I can.

I don't know *a lot* about FTP and HTML, but I've used both, and if presented with a task, I imagine that I could figure out what needs to be done.

[Jani Soderhall]

At one time I was anxious to transform the index page into a Portal kind of page, where new articles could be posted in the forum and automatically visible on the portal page. There are such add-ons to phpBB so it could be done, it just takes the time to check it out, install it, configure it and then keep it updated. I never got around doing it for lack of time.

To start off easily, until we get bored with that method, I suggest we just edit the index.html page that is up there. Ideally we need someone here with a little bit of html knowledge and some FTP knowledge (to download/upload) the file(s). Jonathan, does that sound like your CV? It would be good to have an American, so that we can have the writing checked at the same time.


At a later stage we could adopt the same kind of portal page as Riderz, or why not use exactly the same tool?

/Jani

[Jonathan Harms]

I'm willing to try to help, perhaps by editing. I've done a bit of that in the past, and I kan spel purty good, most of th tyme.

[Vincent Berruchon]

i would love to do it with vince or any able american maybe?

Yes I can help Donald, at least to help for web publishing if not for editing (I can also but the only problem is time).

We had the same problem with our Riderz.net, I was the only one to post new things, but people now begin to understand they can find interesting news there and not only on the forum (that is also very polluted).
On Riderz we use now Mambo/Joomla, that is a content management system allowing any text processor capable person to write articles: http://www.riderz.net (check funny kids pictures in my last report). I'm still the main person to publish stuff but no need for technical knowledge.

I suppose it's different on this site, only manual update so it's not a page that we will change everyday anyway.

[Donald Campbell]

AGAIN:

i would like to help wherever i can,who else wants to do the same?

[Donald Campbell]

i would love to do it with vince or any able american maybe?

[Jonathan Harms]

I think the photo at the bottom should be at the top instead. Such a handsome devil!

[Jani Soderhall]

I just made a brief update to the home page together with Donald Campbell.

It's time to look into a major overhaul of this functionality, or at least make sure that someone is in charge of updating it. I do not have the time to do it. Donald is motivated to have a go at it, let's have some opinion on why and how we should go about it.

Or maybe we can have somebody more html/ftp savvy than Donald actually do it, with Donald as a partner/writer/editor? Any volunteers?

/Jani

[Jani Soderhall]

I thought the Olympics was a good enough reason to update the front page.
That poor page has remained static for almost a year.

It doesn't take long to update it, once you get down to doing it, but it's never top priority for me.

I hope that someone will volunteer to write future snippets and propose new pictures so that we can keep the page alive. After all it's the first page new visitors will see - and probably also potential sponsors that we direct to this site.

I think we should refrain from doing full articles there or on any other static page. The best is just to present small highlights of the activity underneath and link to the appropriate topic. I'll nominate Wesley Tucker for the job, but maybe there's someone else eager to do it?

/Jani