The Poole Wheelers site was initially launched 3 years ago using Microsoft Frontpage for ease of use in order to keep things simple. More time spent cycling less being a nurd.
In the last 3 years the site has grown in popularity and more demands have been placed on the club to keep members informed. The addition of the discussion page hosted by "websitetoolbox" and the excellent results section engineered by Terry Belbin with "Pipeten" has furthered enhanced the site.
The main site is now hosted by "Pipeten" who have proven to be reliable and efficent service providers.
So whats new?
The whole site is now designed in Adobe Dreamweaver using CSS (cascading Style sheets) which means that the site style and layout can be changed without having to implement a complete re write of every page. Dreamweaver is the choice of professional website designers and will give more flexibility.
The Frontpage site was growing in megabyte terms and was occupying over 200 megs of cyberspace, This new site presently only consists of 6 megabytes, which means that the features will load more quickly.
We now have a Home page which will have the main links to all the best parts of the siite, a direct link to the discussion pages with scrolling headlines, direct link to the Results pages.Each news item will have a page from the headline on the home page.
Events. We have a "google driven" calendar feature. All events will be entered onto the calendars by Committee members and will the details will be immediately available to all users.
Rider Profiles are better presented and the navigation more logical.
The photo gallery is much improved with a java powered slideshow feature. I intend to keep this under control with quality pictures and photosets.
FAQ is a completely new idea and will only grow as members submit thier questions and suggestions. The Spry widget feature saves space and makes navigation of the question really simple.
Links have been improved and will only include verified useful links.
In order to fully enjoy the features of the website I would recommend you consider using the following:
Browsers
I have tested the site using Microsft Explorer version 8, Firefox ver 3.5.6 , Apple Safari 4.0.4. In these browsers everything seems to work OK
Screen Resolution
I use a wide screen 1680 x 1050 pixel monitor but I do test the site down to a minimum of 800 x 600 pixels (which just about works). I would recommend a minimum resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels
Java
you will need Java installed and enabled I currently use Java 6 (update 17)
I am keen to use Flash in the future but at this time there is no flash content on the site.
The website will only be as good as those people willing to contribute.
I value your ideas and seek your support in keep us modern and forward thinking.
Any suggestions, articles, photos, etc etc will all be gratefully recieved by the Webmaster
Gary Steadman