The Website Wish List…

[Warren B. MusselmanModerator]

I think it appropriate to start a thread specifically devoted to getting input from the users of this website about what could make this website better. This thread will be made “sticky” so that it stays prominent and so that EVERYONE who uses it can make their 2 cents known.

To that end, I want to put forth some ideas for areas that need to be addressed:

Look and Feel – how busy the page layout is, how much effort it takes to reach the information you want (clicks, etc.)
Content – what do you feel needs to be available and how important is it?
Utility – what kinds of information do you want and WHERE do you want to find it.

These are a few of the thoughts on the big picture side. I also hope some that some of the possibilities offered by having the site will occur to folks:

PayPal or credit card payment of club dues and event fees and pre-registration
Club Member user update of contact address/phone/email address?
Automatic email notification of launches, membership renewal, events, etc.?
A “Like” button for forum posts or some similar scheme?
A user “Wiki”, where anyone could post/edit articles analogous to Wikipedia
Launch-status window prominently displayed on the site Home page

What are your ideas?

This thread is for WEBSITE IDEAS ONLY!!!!! Not for other things. I have split off the Outreach comments to another post.

[BEAR]

How about a search engine where if I want to know details of ideas for building an L3 bird, I could place that in my search parameter and it would pull those comments that are in the forums up, along with related links. As I typed this in, I was thinking that this could be a near impossible task and I do not know how it could be done. I know that with all the pages of forum comments out there on the website, I sometimes wonder where I need to go to learn about the specifics that affect M, N, O, etc. flights that are not common to an L2 flight. What is a good way to secure the shock cord? Some say anchor it to the motor and others do not. I do not want to continually re-invent the wheel and I know others have dealt with these issues before me, so has it been mentioned in the forums and how do I find it? Another thought is an alphabetical index of all the topics so that I could find it easier instead of going through all the general topics before I find the specific topic I am looking for. Both of these sound near impossible to me yet they are on my wish list and hope others would find that of value; or if it already exists, then please edujimicate me . I know I have been told before that I need to quit thinking, that is my first problem, which will solve all the others.

[Greg Sartz]

As a new member it is clear to me that there is a ton of information in the forums…but it requires manually digging through it. And it seems to me that their are some true experts within the organization with deep knowledge.

I read some posts discussing a possible “NCR University” to share member knowledge…and it seems some of the information from the forums could be structured/re-structured to support that. Possibly a content management system (CMS), that would allow “authorized authors” to publish course materials…without the webmaster needing to format documents/load files/setup security, etc. A learning management system (LMS), could be used to make sure members are aware of safety rules, making progress through NCR University, etc.

Other thoughts:
– Streaming video (onsite? 3rd party site integration?), for everything from launches to “NCR University Distance Learning”.
– Social Media Integration:
–Facebook page for truly “Public Facing/New Member Recruitment”.
–Twitter – Launch/Meeting GO/No Go
– Enhanced links to other sites (NAR/TRA/4-H/Schools/Vendors, etc.)

[Warren B. MusselmanModerator]

Some excellent ideas there Greg. The only one I’d have to shoot down is streaming video – we don’t have the hosting space and more importantly, we don’t have the bandwidth available to support it without a significant increase in our hosting fees. We receive thousands of page-views per month – over 2.4 Million page views since August 5,2005 when the site went live to the club.

I very much like the idea of a Facebook page – Tripoli Colorado has one, and it should be an easy thing to add. Other social media integration would depend on the API. I don’t want to give automatic access to just anyone with a Facebook account – some sort of vetting operation such as we do now to ensure that the user IS in rocketry and a member of a club would be necessary.

The “Wiki” idea I mentioned is very much what you are talking about when you say “NCR University”. There are dozens of excellent forum articles that could be migrated into that format. We are already on a CMS – PHPNuke. What we need to figure out is how to change the site format and organization so that the information you’re talking about – launch rules, bylaws, etc. is more easily findable. Better links page, better readability, etc.

A better search capability is probably the most important thing to teasing out the gems amongst the forum posts. On the other hand, a more active hand moderating and pruning the forums and keeping them trimmed down to important content and current events might serve just as well. We COULD add the Google search API internally, but I’m really trying to avoid anything that makes interior site content available externally – to protect our users’ privacy and save us from email address mining.

Twitter might be interesting as a way for President Joe to update the Launch Status window I’d like to add.

Keep going with the ideas folks. How about a mobile App for iPhone/Android integration?

[Kevin OslerParticipant]

Personally I would love to see some more pictures of peoples projects. Especially during constructon. I think an easy way to upload pics would be cool.

[Warren B. MusselmanModerator]

I’m going to go back and reiterate that we don’t have the storage space to host a significant amount of photos – linking through to Flickr or Picassa, perhaps with some code to thumbnail the photo, is our best option from a hosting perspective. Same holds true for video.

Unless we have a significant increase in storage from our host, I’ll continue to tell everyone to host externally (lots of choices out there) and post a link to the pics or use the IMG tag to include it in your post. KEEP IT to no larger than 640×480 if you want the page layout to stay sane.

[BEAR]

How about spell check, bold, italicized, and underline in the forums?

[Jeffrey Joe HintonModerator]

Pretty sure those options alreadyexist. Click on the little box under the subject line then un-click when you’re done using the specialty function. Spell check is a different story.

[Warren B. MusselmanModerator]

We do have ALL of those options Bear. Spellcheck is automatic – thanks Jeremiah Johnson for that. The Bold, Italic and Underline are an automatic part of the forum system we use.

[BEAR]

You are correct Joe, except that I did not see spell check. Now I am embarrassed. Should I go back and delete my previous post before too many people read it?

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