Purpose
I've been asked
several times for advice or guidance on setting up NRHS Chapter
Web Sites. Below is some information I hope will be useful
to you. The information is written for novices, so those of
you with web expertise will have to bear with me.
As a little background,
I have a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Computer Science.
My first introduction to the Internet was in 1987. I
have been developing web sites since 1995. Since 1996, I have
been developing and maintaining the Washington, D.C. Chapter
NRHS' site, www.dcnrhs.org,
so much of what I am relaying to you here is based upon experience
that has provided real and positive results for a fellow
Chapter.
Before You Begin
I encourage each
Chapter in the NRHS to get on the web. However, before setting
out to create a virtual station for your Chapter on
the World Wide Web, make sure you know WHY the Chapter wants
a web site. Each Chapter needs clearly defined goals and objectives
for its web site. The goals should be sanctioned by
the Chapter's Board of Directors. The web is a great tool
for NRHS Chapters to use to grow, develop, and promote themselves
at relatively little cost. Common useful goals for a web site
include expanding trip promotion, marketing railroadiania,
increasing membership rolls, promoting a museum, etc, and/or
advancing an interest in rail history in your area of the
country. The goals must then be translated into major features
of your web site. Don't bother developing a web site
"Because everybody else has one" or "Because
it's another place to post train pictures"; that will
likely not produce significant positive results. Keep in mind
there are many extensive sites already out there devoted to
railfanning, rail photos, and rail links.
After developing
the goals for your site, MAKE SURE the person in charge of
putting the site out there (your webmaster - probably the
person reading this) is willing and able to spend the time
and energy to keep it current, add new features, and rotate
pictures/stories/topics so people will come back. Most web
surfers will not return to an out of date site. In many
ways, it is worse to have an out of date site than no site
at all. Depending upon the content, it may be necessary to
update your site as much as once or twice a week, especially
during the first few months after you first get the site on
the web. At a minimum, something on your site should change
at least once a month. You will also need to identify the
Official Chapter e-mail address and a person to answer the
e-mail traffic, which can be substantial.
Your Chapter might
want to consider getting somebody to get the site up and running
for you on a fee basis. You want a site structure that is
easily maintainable and generally conforms to the accepted
standards and practices of the web. A site that is set up
correctly should be fairly easy for a novice webmaster to
maintain and subsequently grow.
Domain Name
Find a domain name
and use one from the get-go. Domain Name Registration is $70.00
for the first two years and $35.00 per year after that. It
is a little more expensive to get a domain name and to have
your site hosted as a virtual domain on a professional web
hosting site. However, a web site with a domain name
presents a much more professional image to the public, makes
long-term maintenance of your site easier, and allows you
to change from one ISP (Internet Service Provider) to
another more easily. The latter is important for continuity
of service to your customers (the people who visit your site).
For purposes of this letter, the ISP is the entity which will
be hosting your web site.
Good domain names
are short, easy to remember, and directly related to the name
of your organization. For example, if your Chapter is
from Walla Walla, Washington, you might choose a domain name
of "www.wwnrhs.org"
or " www.walla-walla-nrhs.org
". If your Chapter is a non-profit (not-for-profit)
entity, I recommend getting the .org extension if it is available.
To see if the domain name you want is available (or to buy
it), go to www.networksolutions.com.
On the main page enter a proposed name for your Chapter web
site in the "Search" area and hit the "Search"
button.
If you are unsure
about domain names, don't actually get one until you have
talked to the ISP who will be hosting your web site.
You are required to have a computer to host the domain before
you buy it anyway. In many instances, your ISP can help
you register the domain as part of the set-up process.
e-Mail Account
Once you have a
domain name, you also at the same time need to get an official
Chapter e-mail account set up to handle the e-mail.
It's not ideal to have this sent to anybody's personal account
as this causes problems if there is personnel turnover and
limits the access to one person. Make sure you have
things set up so at a minimum any e-mail sent to your domain
anyaddress@yourdomain.org
is sent to a single common account.
- If your ISP
is providing the Chapter it's own complete pop mail account,
complete with send and receive capability from the same
address, you may choose to use it. Then your e-mail could
be accessed by any authorized Chapter member with a properly
configured mail program as well as the login and password
for the e-mail account.
- Alternatively,
consider having all the e-mail for your site FORWARDED to
a free e-mail account such as those you can get through
www.yahoo.com.
This configuration allows for any (and multiple) authorized
Chapter members to access the e-mail from any location,
as long as they have a browser!. It eliminates the
need to have your e-mail tool configured for multiple addresses,
provides readier access to the account, and allows for other
Chapter members to pitch in and answer e-mail when the primary
person is completely unavailable. Being able to respond
to e-mail in a timely manner is key to success.
NOTE: If you
Chapter has the proper resources, some ISPs for an additional
fee will enable you to set up a separate e-mail account
for multiple people, say all your officers and your Membership
Chairman.
Tools
There are a plethora
of web site development tools. I suggest you get one
that has a "What you see is what our get" or WYSIWYG
interface, one that allows you to develop pages without having
to code in HTML. The tool should also include features
to permit site link management, site management, publishing
to your web site (ftp), coding in raw HTML as necessary, templates,
and image maps. Four good ones are:
Dreamweaver by
Macromedia is an outstanding development environment. Microsoft
FrontPage makes a lot of things easy and minimized the requirement
for HTML knowledge. It is not a panacea and has several drawbacks
that can be quite frustrating until you learn them.
It is one of the most commonly used tools. I recommend
you stay away from developing a site using the FrontPage extensions,
unless you know for certain that your ISP supports these capabilities
(ask when you are researching this). The FrontPage extensions
support things like FrontPage's Site Search Tool, Counters,
and Forms processing.
For graphics tools,
there are several good tools out there, including Photoshop
and Illustrator by Adobe. One of the best and most reasonable
in terms of price is PaintShop Pro by JASC, www.jasc.com
. Microsoft FrontPage also comes with a graphics editor.
Building Your
Site
Now, work on developing
your site. Take your time. There is always an urge to
"Just something out there that can be improved later."
Resist the urge. Make sure what you are putting out there
appears professional and well thought out. Some more
tips:
- Don't use "Under
Construction" banners to advertise coming attractions.
Instead, post a date that the new attraction will be available,
and make it happen by then.
- Use Spell Checker.
- Have a fellow
Chapter member review the site after you post changes.
You'll be amazed at how many errors can creep into a page.
Don't feel bad, it is just difficult to proofread your own
work, even for the most experience author.
Many ISPs have
a common script called formmail.pl which will allow you to
create a form in HTML for the user to fill in. After
the user hits the "Submit" button, all the information
is mailed to you. Similarly many ISPs also have a counter
that you can use on your site. Check out your ISP's
home page or talk to technical support for more information.
Another good source
for basic scripts (many in Perl) is Matt's Script Archive
at http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/.
Some good topics:
- Chapter Information
- History, Purpose, Focus, Mission
- Chapter Contact
Information - Address, Telephone, Location
- Chapter Activities
Announcement
- Trips Promotion
and Sales
- Membership Information
- Meeting Information
- Museum or Affiliations
- Railroadiania
Sales
- What's New
- Area Rail Highlights
or Points of Interest
- Train Pictures
(make sure they change periodically)
- Links Page
Some Defacto Required
Topics:
- Chapter Contact
Information - Address, Telephone, Location, Location of
Meetings.
- Copyright Information
- Privacy and
Security Policy
- Site Help and
Site Design Information
- Webmaster Page
The Links Page
A links page is
an important part of your site, but one that should be created
and maintained with a watchful eye. It won't really take off
until after your site is published. Some suggestions:
- Trade links
with regional or other related organizations in your area.
Get them to post a link on their site in exchange for you
posting a link to their site on yours. This way you help
drive traffic to each other.
- Post a link
to www.nrhs.com
- Make links to
a select few major related topics, like Amtrak
, the AAR , etc.
- Don't try to
list every NRHS Chapter, provide a link to the Chapter Directory
on this web site, http://www.nrhs.com/chapters. Make
sure that you send the URL for your site to the National
NRHS Office.
- Similarly, don't
try to become the next "Mother of All Web Directories."
It's doubtful you will succeed and the maintenance can be
a nightmare. Use the power of the web to list a few of the
best comprehensive indexes, and let it go at that.
Publish and Publicize
Your Site
Now publish
your site. Congratulations. However,
don't get too excited. Your job is just beginning!
Now, promote your site: word of mouth, by e-mail, in your
newsletter, on trip flyers, at work, everywhere. Submit to
the big search web directories and search engines who take
submissions. Some you will want to try to be included in are:
NOTE: There
are some sites out there, both free and pay-per-use, that
allow you to submit your site to many search engines simultaneously.
I have had only minimal luck with these type of services:
I don't believe there is any particular advantage in paying
you to list your site in any particular search engine. In
most cases, you site will eventually be picked up by the
major engines if you arrange for reciprocal links with other
organizations AND you provide your URL to the the national
office for display on the National site.
Keep It Current
I can't reiterate
this enough: Keep your site up to date and keep it
interesting by adding new features (and dropping old ones).
Change the photos once in a while.
etc.
Lastly, as with
any organization, there will be those who criticize your work,
often times via hostile e-mail from people you don't know.
Everybody has their own ideas and own personal preferences
about web sites. Try to please the vast majority of
reasonable people, not everybody; there will always be a few
who think you have it all wrong.
Additional
Helpful Hints
- The file name
of the main (initial) page of your site should be called
index.html in almost all cases. This page is frequently
referred to as the Home Page of your web site.
- Most pages should
not have more than 50K worth of graphics and text on them.
Most pages on your site should take no longer than about
30 seconds to load on a 28.8 modem.
- Stay away from
trying to make political or social statements on your site.
A webmaster must use the same judgment expected of a newsletter
editor. Web page contents can be just as permanent as printed
material, and your Chapter doesn't control the circulation.
- Use light color
backgrounds (actually white is best) and dark colored text.
Otherwise, some pages may not print readily in some browsers.
Do not ever expect that white text on a dark background
will be viewable when it is printed.
- Stick with basic
fonts that most everyone should have on their computer.
Times New Roman and Courier are very common. Helvetica and
Arial are fairly easy to read and widely available.
Serif based fonts can be good for large blocks of text.
- Stay away from
overuse of colors. Develop a color theme and stay with it.
Using bright or lots of different colors, bold, or italics
makes it hard on the viewer's eyes.
- Design your
site for 480X640 or 600X800 resolution screens.
- Use .gif files
for simple graphics, headers, buttons, and drawings. Use.
jpg format files for photographs.
- Warning: Many
web surfers hate frames, use with caution. Use at most 3
on any page.
- Most web sites
have textual links to the main site topics, the home page
(index.html), and e-mail address available at the bottom
of each page.
- Make sure you
have a person's consent when posting his/her telephone or
fax number(s), postal address, e-mail address, and other
personal information. Generally in lieu of posting e-mail
addresses, I suggest you create a form for our site's visitors
to fill out with their question. Then have the message sent
via the form e-mail to you. This way you do not open yourself
up to SPAM (unsolicited e-mail) by publicizing an e-mail
address on your site.
- Counters - Use
a counter at first on your site to give yourself an easily
identifiable number as to how many people are visiting your
site. I don't recommend that you keep a counter long-term
unless you are getting at least 250 unique visitors per
day.
Additional
Answers to Some Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Who
do you recommend to host the web site?
Answer:
- www.rrhistorical.com
- Dan Dawdy's Company hosts the NRHS and RAILCAMP
Site.
- www.softcomca.com
- I have developed and hosted professional sites
here and I know others who have done so as well.
Look around the
web for designs and content that reflect your interests. Don't
copy them, but use those ideas as a catalyst/basis for your
own unique design. A really good book that shows examples
is one titled "Web Pages that Suck." See the reference
section below for more information.
Some other sites which
represent general good web style and form are:
Some of my favorite
sites include:
Question: Can
you tell me some Good Web Site References?
Answer: Web site development tools have progressed
as such that beginners do not have to understand HTML (DHTML),
JavaScript, and Graphics to get started producing nice web
sites. You may eventually though want to understand
HTML so that you can add that extra something that the common
tools don't permit.
To begin learning
do two things. First buy a getting started book such
as Creating Web Pages for Dummies, 4th Edition by Bud
E. Smith, et al" or a title similar. These books
will teach the basics, which is what you need. The second
frontier of learning comes from surfing the web. Visit sites
and look for features that interest you, then figure out how
to code them (Use your browser's View Source feature as a
guide).
The best true references
are the books published by O'Reilly & Associates,
Inc. Some of their best titles include:
- Dynamic
Html : The Definitive Reference by Danny Goodman
- Javascript
: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan
- Webmaster
in a Nutshell by Stephen Spainhour, Robert Eckstein
- Web Design
in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference by Jennifer
Niederst, Richard Koman (Editor)
NOTE: Just about
anything published by O'Reilly & Associates is worth having.
Web Pages That
Suck : Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design by Vincent
Flanders, Michael Willis is also a good book that teaches
good web site design by showing the shortcomings of other
sites.
All the books listed
here are available from www.amazon.com.
Last Updated:
8/28/2004
