Website Planning and Organization New or Existing Website
Before jumping in and transferring your unit site or developing a new one a little planning and organization is needed. Here's a few steps to get you started on the right track.
Side Navigation - Your Web Map
Side Navigation allows visitors to explore your unit website, this is where you can provide links to your local unit events, photo galleries and all the information that relates to your specific unit. Study the valuable links provided for you in the Header and Footer. Make a list and check for any duplication with the header and footer.
Content for the Web Page
You've heard the saying, A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words, well it truly is. One thing that drives a visitor to stay and explore your site are photos of interest. I'm talking about action and event pictures! It doesn't matter if it's a Boating Safety Class, Boat Crew Training, Patrol, Beach Clean Up, Awards, Fourth Cornerstone Events these pictures tell the story of your unit. This is also a great way to increase membership and communicate to the public what the Coast Guard Auxiliary is all about. Refer to your photo editor to learn how to reduce the file size of your photos for the web.
Provide just enough information to make your site interesting, don't make the mistake of Giant Bold Text that goes on and on and on and on... If you were surfing, would you stop and read it?
Utilize all the valuable information in the CS Guide and the AUX04 website. The links and information provided will enable you to develop a website your unit will be proud of.
How to Prune an Existing Unit Website
- Import your current unit site into your editor and save in a new file name that denotes site development. Break all ties to your unit URL site by publishing to another file in your computer. This step insures you won't accidently wipe out (overwrite) your unit URL while developing the New website.
- It may help to print the pages of your website before continuing with the next steps.
- Evaluate the links in your site that are no longer necessary or would be redundant. Refer to the Template header and footer for all the links provided to assist you with this task. For reference look at the HTML Template Model, go take a look.
- Website Examples are a great way to incorporate New ideas into your site. Refer to the Example page for links to some great looking websites.
- Mark up your printed pages of your website for reference. Remove the items from each webpage that will no longer be needed. It is much easier to do this before pasting each page into the template.
- Make a list of the Side Navigation Links for your unit website, this list will save a tremendous amount of time when developing the template.
- Import the template into your editor using a web name that refers to your unit # template web, such as: 3-10template web
- Depending on the Model Template you've imported will decide the next steps. Go to the Model Template link in this guide to continue with your development.