Question for candidates (GAGB website)

[Over21uk]

What would you like to see in the gagb website that isn't there already ?

[JackieC]

For the last few months the GAGB website has been in the process of being updated, and Cass has done a fantastic job on the new site.

You can never have enough content for a website, but I suppose the trick is having relevant content.

As the GAGB are getting more and more enquiries from groups/bodies and journalists/press then I'd suggest some sort of press pack section.

[Fudgeman]

I think the website is already very comprehensive. Maybe a page with links to all the listing sites available along with a brief description of each one.

[eusty]

A realistic timeframe for the new website would be nice, I seen to remember it was going to be last January!

[daddyanddude]

The web site is great what we have to remember is it is a work in progress, cass has done great job but being on the committee is a balancing act between peoples work.. giving time to the Gagb and still enjoying geocaching ..the Gagb has limited funds so one of the first things to address is getting more money thus allowing investment in to things like webpage ....

[richlay]

Not sure how easy this is to answer as part of this process...
The current content is terrific but could be enhanced. I've seen many people complain that the weekly newsletter from Groundspeak doesn't now have a good enough events section. I'd love for this website to address this. I know there is a place on the site for events already but visually it isn't the easiest to view. I really like the events map on project-gc https://project-gc.com/Maps/comingevents/?country=United+Kingdom&submit=Filter it would be great if this could be replicated or even just linked to within this site. Maybe this committee can do the job that the GS newsletter used to fulfil and provide members with the emailed list of events weekly.

It would be fantastic if the adopt a cache initiative http://www.adoptacache.guilduk.com/ could be integrated somehow. I've asked the question before of whether the GAGB could/should adopt "heritage" caches to stop them from disappearing, perhaps instead it could just help through promoting the adoption process.

I think a broader question however is who is the site for? If it is for new players, the "What is geocaching" and "What is the GAGB" link on the Pages menu probably ought to be much higher up, certainly higher than the labels link. If it is for established players then I am sure (though I am no expert) that facebook and forum discussions can be integrated to be more inclusive.

I think really though the membership ought to be canvassed to see what it wants from the site. I would want it to be a "one stop shop" for UK cachers, the go to place for cachers of all levels to chat, discuss, research etc but that might just be a massive waste of time if that isn't what the members want. What I want to see isn't really important.

[mollyjak]

The web site has had a great deal of work put into it by Cass and it will continue to expand and evolve as members make suggestions, give ideas and contribute when needed.

Thank you for asking this question and I am sure a number of the suggestions will be taken on board in due time. This is what is needed - members telling the GAGB Committee what they want to see on their website

[Sharon - Sharant]

Cass has done a brilliant job on the website, it's a large task and takes time to design and code a good website. :socool:
The website needs to match what the GAGB members want and to meet their needs. So maybe a questionnaire is needed to see what people want and what they currently use the GAGB website for. I mainly use the GAGB events calendar and the forums and sometimes looking for information on land agreements.

[*geocass*]

Oh there's so much! Lol! That's the problem, I keep adding things to make the new site even better. I've stopped doing that now to concentrate on finishing touches to get it in place sooner.

EDIT: Just to add there's a lot more to a good website than content. There's accessibility and security too. All that background stuff that nobody notices when it's working, but everyone notices when it goes wrong. Something I really want to try my best to avoid with the new site.

[UKCACHEMAG]

I have to be honest and say I am not that familiar with what is on the site already - my initial thought would be a resources section with various things than people can download and print.

This ties in with my training idea that I mentioned on another thread perhaps?

EDITED - I have just thought that perhaps having some kind of voice chat room or video room where people can ask question and hear the tone of voice etc may help diffuse some situations where email can be taken the wrong way. Perhaps have a number of contact numbers where people can ring for help and advice etc?

[Poole_Man]

What would you like to see in the gagb website that isn't there already ?

I am not sure if I actually missed getting to see the new website (I know it was mentioned in Seeker) but I see the current members of the Committee saying the website is good, trouble being I can't see this for myself and I therefore can't fairly offer my opinion.

The current Committee has the distinct advantage over the new candidates for election to Committee to talk about the website work that has been done. :(

By the way if we get all that we have been promised soon in the way of website design and back end I would be very happy. :-)

Do we have a cutoff date yet when work will cease and the new website will go live?

Paul

[richlay]

I am not sure if I actually missed getting to see the new website (I know it was mentioned in Seeker) but I see the current members of the Committee saying the website is good, trouble being I can't see this for myself and I therefore can't fairly offer my opinion.

The current Committee has the distinct advantage over the new candidates for election to Committee to talk about the website work that has been done. :(

By the way if we get all that we have been promised soon in the way of website design and back end I would be very happy. :-)

Do we have a cutoff date yet when work will cease and the new website will go live?

Paul

I'm really struggling to understand this response. In what way are new nominees disadvantaged and why can you not answer the question?

[Poole_Man]

I'm really struggling to understand this response. In what way are new nominees disadvantaged and why can you not answer the question?

The original question was:

"What would you like to see in the GAGB website that isn't there already ?"

Unless I am mistaken current GAGB Committee members keep referring to the work that is being done on the new website when saying the work is good.

I am not sure if we are commenting on the same website.

It would help if we were all able to see the new website that was what I was trying to say.

Also I would like to see links to the various social network websites that GAGB uses and more links to other sources of Geocaching information.

Also a Geocaching awards program of some sort to give credit to the people who do good work in promoting Geocaching might be a worth while addition to the website too.

Paul

[*geocass*]

I think now is probably a good time for me to step in a do a bit of a sneaky peek of what the new website will look like and what I've been up to all this time!!! There was a preview in Seeker, however just one page as there's limited space, so here is a better overview.

I have a test system and a live system that I work on so please ignore the content of the screenshots that I am showing you below, this is not finished and they are taken from my test system which has just been through a recent recode and I haven't updated all of the data. Some of the text is out of date (e.g. the Seeker issues) but please just use this to get an idea of the look and feel...

Homepage:
Click here (http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag38/geocass/GAGB%20Site%20Screenshots/Homepage_zps9331f3f5.jpg) to view the homepage.

Still need to add some more content to the page to fill the void that the twitter widget creates, but it gives you an idea of the type of thing that will fill the page. The menu along the top can be hovered over so you can see additional links to click. On the right-hand side there are some sharing links to encourage the social networking side of it. "Recent articles" shows the most recent news that's been added, article tags shows the most common tags for news articles and sizes them accordingly, and the Twitter widget shows anything @thegagb tweets or retweets. This right-hand bar is consistent on all pages.

What is Geocaching:
Click here (http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag38/geocass/GAGB%20Site%20Screenshots/WhatIsGeocaching_zps1cbd0661.jpg) to view an example static page.

An idea of how a general content page will look with some pictures. These are static HTML pages which the committee will maintain and update. This isn't the final page, the content is still work in progress.

Land Agreements (GLAD)
I could have just rewritten the existing code for GLAD, however I wanted to give users a much better system to use and implemented filtering. You can choose a county or region and display land agreements which apply to areas in that county/region. Or you can choose to only see agreements relating to a particular land owner. This new filtering might take a little getting used to and if you don't want to use it then the system is just like the old one, however if you do want to use it I think after a couple of goes you'll get it!

The default view is just all allowed agreements. Click here (http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag38/geocass/GAGB%20Site%20Screenshots/GladAllAllowed_zps416b72f4.jpg) to see.

If you click a county (e.g. Essex) you get just agreements that would apply to that area along with details on the areas that it covers. Click here (http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag38/geocass/GAGB%20Site%20Screenshots/LandAgreementsEssex_zps19607216.jpg)to see.

When you click on agreements there are some new features. There's the ability for the committee/GLAD manager to upload a picture to the agreement just to make it look a bit nicer. There's the ability for you to add feedback about an agreement (Clicking the link goes through to a form with a CAPTCHA to help prevent SPAM) and there's also a link at the top of the agreement that you can click to register that you've used an agreement. This isn't going to be 100% accurate, but it does log the IP address that you've clicked from so that you can't register another vote. Obviously not abuse-proof, but something I thought we could try out.

Click here (http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag38/geocass/GAGB%20Site%20Screenshots/AberdeenAgreement_zps89c26035.jpg) to view an individual agreement page.

News Articles
Click here (http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag38/geocass/GAGB%20Site%20Screenshots/newsarticles_zps3a5800fe.jpg) to view the News Articles list.

Finally, the News Articles system. There's a different view of the areas that I've coded depending if you're logged in as a GAGB committee member. Different members can have different permissions assigned as to whether they can update glad, news articles or add files to the site. Using the system committee members can log in and add a news article so that it displays to visitors much like our current site does using WordPress, however as it's all custom we get the same consistent view all around the site instead of having a site that looks like GLAD is bolted on to the end and a forum doesn't match the rest of the look and feel (The forum look is something that I will do after releasing the site.) Like a blogging site I've implemented tags as well.

[Cache on Wheels]

I think the website is brilliant! :)
It is beyond my knowledge and capabilities of programming etc and I think it is very user friendly. Well done :)

To answer the question, I would like to quote some from my manifesto:

"As a disabled cacher, I see things from a different perspective, for me and others, with the additional challenges it presents. I am passionate about supporting others in any way I can.
I like to offer feedback to cache owners about disabled access to their cache where appropriate, and I am happy to report that most cache owners have been very supportive in adding extra information to their cache pages, to make it easier for disabled cachers.

I would like to work with GAGB to develop support to other cachers and cache owners to include good and practical information for disabled cachers.

This will also be beneficial to people who cache with youngsters and using a buggy and people with reduced mobility."

I have members of my family who have various illnesses and as they call it themselves: 'disabilities'

I have cached and spent a lot of time around others who are disabled in many different ways and ages from physically and brain related which includes people on the Autistic spectrum. This includes people of all ages from children to adults including a family member too.

I am passionate about encouraging and supporting people of all ages and abilities to enjoy the benefits of Geocaching.

Having some information on the website for Cache Owners and cachers that can help to proved good information to help disabled cachers and cachers using pushchairs would be very beneficial :)

Please forgive if I have not used correct PC terms.

Heather

[Dorsetgal]

Personally, I don't think anyone would bother reading the GAGB website for access details about geocaches. That's what cache pages are for isn't it?

[abiherts]

I definately think a downloadable press pack would be useful, particularly considering the misinformation that has been reported today in the Mail and a Lincolnshire newspaper.

[Cache on Wheels]

I am referring to information for Cache Owners about information they could add to their cache pages re disabled access.
Many cache owners have asked what they could put as they think there cache can be accessed to within a certain distance be WC but as it doesn't fit under the guidelines to be listed as a terrain 1, they didn't know what to put.

Many cache owners have said to me that
Some information that cache owners could access and perhaps copy and paste and edit accordingly would be very helpful.

This is why I thought GAGB may be interested in including this on their website.

It was brought up last year in the thread I started about disabled access and discussions of over 100 comments suggested there should be more info put on cache pages about disabled access.
Eg on one of my CM caches, I have suggested an alternative route for wheelchair users.

[Cache on Wheels]

In response to a private message I received, which would be better placed here for all to see really.

Just to be clear, when I made reference to disabilities of various types, physical and brain related, there are a huge range of brain related listed in the Cerebra Website.

This is their wording and not mine "Cerebra is a unique charity set up to help improve the lives of children with brain related conditions through research, education and directly supporting the children and their carers."

I have for many years in my personal life spent a lot of time around people of all ages who have conditions of physical and brain related as listed by the charity Cerebra.

If anyone wants to look them up, here is the website address.
http://www.cerebra.org.uk/English/Pages/home.aspx

[Dorsetgal]

What would you like to see in the gagb website that isn't there already ?

I think this question has been lost somewhere along the way.

[Over21uk]

Yeah me too.

[Cache on Wheels]

Posted in wrong thread so removed.