Website Report 16-May-2015
Contents
Lots of details below, but here are some highlights.
- The official email addresses are now up and running.
- The writing groups directory has been overhauled.
- The foundations have been laid for automating the “100” competition.
Achievements
Here are the achievements that have been made since the last committee meeting on 21st February 2015.
Tabbed Front Page Displays ↑
The front page now sports a pair of tabbed displays, in order to show the benefits of joining NAWG and who we are.
Writing Groups Directory ↑
The writing groups directory (WGD) has been overhauled. The main advantages of the new one are:
- Ability to search for and list groups geographically.
- Data-driven from the master membership list. No need to hand-edit any more.
- Displayed information can be configured according to groups' preferences and privacy requirements.
“100” Competition ↑
In case you missed it, the 100 Word Mini-Tales Competition is now live.
The current system is a relatively simple, e-mail based one, but it's serving us adequately while the software is developed. Achievements so far are:
- Temporary e-mail solution up and running.
- Software framework in place.
- Competition database evolving (by hand at present).
- Potential new writing group recruits being recorded (9 at the time of writing).
Contact Page & E-mail Addresses ↑
The contact us page has had a makeover. It now includes all the official NAWG e-mail addresses, which are up and running.
Side Bar ↑
- The polls widget was removed, as it was no longer providing us with any useful information.
- The navigation tools were shuffled and moved up to (hopefully) make the site easier to use.
- The BBC Get Creative logo was added.
Miscellaneous ↑
- There are now tags for paid adverts, so we should be able to track these items more easily.
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The
permalinkstructure (the way the site's page links work) has been changed. The new scheme is more resilient to article title and category changes. Most URLs are shorter in the bargain. - There were four software releases since the last meeting: 2.6.3, 2.6.4, 2.7.0 and 2.7.1. Full details are in the release history.
Plans ↑
What's planned for the future of the web site? In short: lots, staring with…
Planning to Plan
From now on, rather than repeat or reiterate long-term plans at each meeting and in each of these reports, I plan to maintain a more comprehensive and cohesive set of planning documents.
At the moment, existing planning documents are a bit haphazard and sparse. I'd like to produce:
- A better roadmap with a more fleshed-out time line.
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More detailed plans for specific areas, including:
- Writing groups directory.
- “100” competition.
- Management and display of competitions information.
- Members' only areas of the site.
- Communication facilities, e.g. forums, chat room.
- A clearer overview of our plans, so members can get more involved.
- A more interactive planning procedure, again so members can participate. They can tell us what they want from the site, as well as us coming up with the ideas.