Florida Society - Sons of the American Revolution

Steve Williams, FLSSAR Webmaster

Prior Website workshop presentations:
January 2007 workshop presentation - Basic start-up concepts: What's involved in creation of website
May 2008 workshop presentation - Recap and continuation of concepts

[Information recap]

Taken from other e-mail messages and shown here so that I can try to be consistent in what I say and do. There are two ways of setting up your chapter website within the FLSSAR

1. Using HTML code you created

I can set up a Folder within the FLSSAR server for your website files. You will need to e-mail me all files associated with your site. I will then populate the folder with the files, notify you with task completion and URL (so you and the chapter president can review for bugs, etc.), and after receiving your concurrence I will publish/link the new website to the FLSSAR site. Thereafter, any changes in your website can be accomplished by sending me the web-ready files. Changes received by me should be published within 24 hours. My goal is to have as quick a turnaround time as is possible. You should expect me:

1. To acknowledge the receipt of files so that you know I got them and
2. To provide you with a timeframe for task completion and
3. To send an e-mail when the task is completed.

Sending the initial files via e-mail is, I know, a pain. But the start up is the worst scenario - maintenance is typically a file or two and a matter of replacing the old file with the new file. 'Web-ready' means that I don't have to do anything to the file before placing it on the webserver - it's 'ready-to-go.'

Sample Chapter Site Folder structure

'Chapter Name' [Main Folder; will contain all htm/html files]

Docs [will contain all documents, e.g., any flyers, meeting notices, By-laws &/or Constitution documents]

Newsltr [subfolder to contain newsletter documents; as a subfolder to better segregate files]

Images [will contain background, banners, & misc. graphics used in website]

Members [subfolder to contain graphics (photos) of members - to better segregate files]

Styles [folder to contain certain website 'system' files]

Templates [folder to contain any templates used to create htm/html files - to better segregate files]

2. Emulation Requirements

[initial; to emulate Brevard site's format which you don't have to do] or having me create the website for you -

Using my site as a template is relatively quick & easy. It's a matter of (1) gathering your chapter specific information and replacing Brevard's information with yours. Not everything will have a correlation to your chapter, of course. Those that don't can be removed. Once your site is up, any changes (style, 'looks', page backgrounds, etc) can be coordinated so that it better reflects the personality of your chapter. (2) You and your chapter president will review and approve the site. (3) Then it can be published and linked to FLSSAR site."

Front Page

1. Photo of chapter president or if none desired on front page, then a graphic of some sort: chapter logo maybe?

2. President's message or other site welcome/greeting message

3. "Webmaster" name & contact information - someone from your chapter who will be responsible for what data is on site.

Menu System [Dropdown]

There are 8 menu tabs: Home, Chapter, Membership, Patriotic, History, Education/Youth, FLSSAR, & NSSAR. You can have as many or as few of them as you want. The first 2 pertain to the chapter. The rest provide links to areas of likely interest to chapter members. The areas are linked to the authoritative sources (or best source) for that specific information whether it's The Florida Society or the National Society.

The Chapter menu tab (below) opens to links to - -

For Members Only takes a visitor to a password logon page and then, after correctly typing in a password, to a members only section. The Brevard chapter uses this to display certain personal information on members, chapter financial reports, etc. that we've deemed appropriate to place behind the scenes. Your chapter can choose otherwise.

Chapter Information leads to links on Meetings (a calendar document), Photo Gallery documents, a document explaining our chapter medals, a chapter history document, and our constitution.

Officers links to a document listing chapter officer contact information.

Chapter Newsletters links to a document which lists available newsletters (in pdf) & links for last 8 issues.

Website Changes links to document which details latest changes in web structure - not updating of data (e.g., new meeting information) but rather the replacing or deleting of website pages, menu tabs, etc.

The Membership menu tab can either be a link to the NSSAR information as it is with the Brevard chapter or can also contain links to documents relating to chapter membership information. Such information may be for Associate (membership) status.

What you should consider sending me for the Chapter menu tab section are any documents that I've highlighted in red (below) if you have a similar document:

1. calendar document

2. chapter history document

3. constitution

4. chapter officer contact information

5. available newsletters (in pdf) for last 8 issues

6. (if appropriate) documents relating to chapter membership information

Photo Gallery documents for Brevard were created in either WORD, or Power Point and then converted to pdf. For your chapter, I can 'hide' the link(s) to the photo galleries until a similar document is available.

If you have other documents that you'd like for the chapter site, send them to me and we'll figure out where to link them.