Agenda for 2008-07-14 Web Design status meeting
Old Business:
- Subteam status reports
- Technology (Walt)
- Business model (Ed)
- Content (Georgette)
- Review open action items
Key focus items where action is needed- Get closure at this meeting on features list and search terms
Also decide whether to implement suggestion from Walt: "We probably should change our terminology a little bit on hikes. We have both Features Items and Features Text. The Items is a checkbox list and will be used for searching. The Text is really more of a teaser for the full hike - an ad if you will to entice you to do this one. I propose that Features Items be shortened to Features and that Features Text be called Teaser." - Job req for themeing skills (action item 06-30 A09)
- Get closure at this meeting on features list and search terms
New Business:
- FY2009 (Oct08-Sep09) budget (Ed)
- Feedback from team on use of Projjex - has everyone accessed the database? Let Ann know if you need her help getting started. You can use it to provide your own updates for action items assigned to you. You can also use it to manage tasks and milestones assigned to you.
Subteam discussions:
No advance topics provided. Break into subteams for discussion if something appropriate comes up during the status meeting.
Minutes posted separately by Georgette this week. Copied here as well:
Minutes TC Web Group Meeting July 14
Action Items resulting from meeting
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Walt to add Teaser field to Parks and Regions databases
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GW to develop Web content developer job description; to ask Katy to troll vol database for possible matches before she leaves.
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Walt to email top 2 or 3 themer candidates
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Ann and Walt to make a recommendation re themer at next meeting
-
Doug to hand off approved design changes to Claudio
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Next group meeting: July 28, 1:30-3:30
For Next or Future Meeting
Discussion about Region identification
Status Reports
Technology:
- Walt has been working on problem with disappearing edit tabs; has been in touch with someone from Drupal; Walt plans to clone database then start process of eliminating modules in attempt to locate source of problem
- Walt noted that he has posted a couple of new potentially useful modules to the Group
- No evidence of theme implementation activity since last meeting
Business Model:
Under new business
Content:
- Phil has continued to add content to the Parks database
- GW has been editing the Hikes database
- Phil recommends adding a Teaser field to Parks and Regions databases; Walt to do this.
- Phil agrees with Walt about rethinking Regions; he would like to be part of this discussion
Hike Features
After discussion, consensus was reached on the following:
Features to list (with checkbox)
Waterfall
Viewpoint(s)
River/Ocean view
Lake
Wetland
Handicapped Accessible
Fees
Accessible via public transportation
Search components
By difficulty
By state/region/park
By hike length/time
By features
In Parks database
Trail Uses (not searchable)
Hiking
Mountain biking
Bridle Path
X-C skiing (only official, groomed trails)
Job requirements for Theming
- Ann & Walt have screened 6 responders to ad; 2 or 3 are promising; Ann identified one in particular. Walt agreed to email the top 2 or 3 for more info.
- Doug noted that themer needs to be good with Javascript integration into Drupal, that this is one of the major challenges of the site.
- Ed suggested that Doug be part of the conversation with Ann and Walt
New Business
1. FY2009
- Ed noted that $$ for 2008 are being depleted by other projects, since this one has not progressed sufficiently; $14,400 left at end of June
- Doug suggested that we should expect to pay $80/hour and up for a themer
- Ed proposed budgeting $10,000 for web project next year
2. Projexx
- Everyone has logged on, but no one has yet explored it in depth
- Ed encouraged Doug to use Drupal Group for posting his schemes
3. Interesting Links on current site
- Walt demonstrated a new module that may be useful in posting and categorizing Interesting off-site links
4. New slides from Doug
Map Overview: Recommendations:
Make map pop-up- box opaque
Omit all park names and all text, except for some towns names; use numbers on ‘enlarged' map
Where there are more than 10 parks in a region, list top 10 and then ‘See Other"
Ed to consult with Jeremy re revisions for overview map
Featured Hike format
Group preferred any that leave the right column open for ads-especially liked Version 3
On Home Page: like head of HOTW & Highlights to be different from others; like overview map that shows whole region (in left column), not an extract
On Switch Pages
Group approved Doug's selection of photos; either Claudio or Walt to post this design with pictures
Group approved addition of green bar at top between title and banner
GW to resend Doug's photo target dimensions to Walt
Note: Doug is enthusiastically using the photo management tool identified by Amita; says it's great. Reminder: It's at http://www.montala.net/resourcespace.php
Comment: Please be relevant, civil, non-commercial.
Add weblinks to agenda
Currently www.nynjtc.org/links.html points to a bunch of links. There is an equivalent now on the site at http://new.nynjtc.net/weblinks
The old site could be better organized so the agenda item is to organize it.
Many of these links are link exchanges with other sites, i.e. I link to them and they link to us. This helps both of us get higher on the Google search pages.
There are a number of other pages on the old site that have similar lists of links which shold be sucked into the link page.
There are a lot of options not shown on the sample. There is a missing feature that may get implemented. All of these links are subject to going stale. There is another link mechanism that implements period link checking and tells the webmaster which ones have gone bad. Having them all in one place makes checking easier.