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WOW! Pushbutton Websites. Steve Johnson DSO-CS. What You Will Hear Today. Unit Website rationale The WOW project: “pushbutton” websites A WOW walkthrough Caveats/Restrictions/Limitations What to do next. WOW Target Audience. Units without FSO-CS/SO-CS Units with no Website
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WOW!Pushbutton Websites Steve Johnson DSO-CS
What You Will Hear Today • Unit Website rationale • The WOW project: “pushbutton” websites • A WOW walkthrough • Caveats/Restrictions/Limitations • What to do next
WOW Target Audience • Units without FSO-CS/SO-CS • Units with no Website • Units with neglected Websites • FSO-CS/SO-CS without Web experience • Experienced Website designers with no time
Reasons to Have a Unit Website? • Attract new members a “touchstone” for candidates. • Attract students to Public Education events • Share information among unit members • Unit pride • Many more…
Reasons to Not Have a Unit Website? • Programming is arcane, difficult to do well • Easy to do a bad job; hard to do a good one • Bad website is worse than none • Makes the unit look bad; discourages visitors • Makes the Auxiliary look bad • Neglected website worse than a bad one • Tells the world “you don’t care”
D11S Website Status in January 2012 • 9 Divisions • All have websites (100%) • 72 Flotillas • 55 have known websites (76%) • 17 do not (24%) • Over 27 of the 55 are neglected… 44+ units – 61% – need a “pushbutton” solution!
The WOW Project “PUSHBUTTON”wEBSITES
The WOW Project:“Pushbutton” Websites • Any unit: an instant site • Personalized to your unit • Staff Listing • Contact and meeting info • Public Education Course • Calendar • Zip Code Course Finder • Instant “Flyer” • Stop now, add later…
How “Instant”? • Open a web browser • Type wow.uscgaux.info • Enter your Aux credentials • Enter your unit • Press “Log In” Elapsed time: 15 seconds
Very “Instant”… • Click “Configure Site” • Click “Enable Site”
And were done… HOME PAGE: About the Auxiliary UNIT’S STAFF LIST CONTACT & MEETING INFO PE COURSE LIST BY ZIP CODE Elapsed time: 25 seconds
But wait! There’s more… 1st 25 Seconds: • Home page • Flotilla meeting & contact info • Current staff list • Public Education Course Finder • Links to • Division Site • District Site • National Site • Log on for staff contact info Every 5 Minutes: • Unit calendars • Rolling announcements • Members Only (passwd) • Unlimited Custom Pages • External links • Feeds • AIS • Weather • Twitter • Anything else • Prospective Member Program Form (coming) • Much, much more…
Bottom line – WOW Websites • Basic site in 25 seconds • No excuse for any flotilla or division to not have a basic, always up-to-date Web presence. • Trivial to expand site with no computer skills • So easy, unit’s elected officers can do • Help fill your PE classes, attract members Aux-04 Website C-School being streamlined; students want only WOW. CHDIRAUX has approved.
The WOW Project ONLINE PE CALENDAR DATABASE
National PE Calendar Database What is it? • Central database with (potentially) all PE courses in the country • Maintained by PE officers at the flotilla level • Entered courses show up on all WOW websites (unit or Zip Code searches) • Entered courses may show up on other sites • “Instant” Course flyer with time, date, details • Entry generates an electronic “Notice of Intent to Teach” form (7023), emails to District
How does it work? A WOW Website is not required to participate
“Instant” Printable Color Flyer Meeting Details and Contact Info Zoomable location map Course Syllabus
Bottom Line – National PE Course Database – Flotilla Perspective • Fill out your 7023 Form online, and you’re in. • Generates the District paperwork and sends via email. You’re done. • If you don’t use it, nearby flotillas who do will siphon away some of your students due to the Zip code search. • Paper 7023’s can be entered for you by an SO or DSO, but…how last Century…
WOW Takeaway • It’s to your advantage for your unit to have a modern Website that is current. • Those without can have one in less than a minute. • WOW sites are important as public portals into your PE course offerings
The WOW “PE Webkit” • A software tool for FSOs-CS and SOs-CS • Purpose: Add PE Database + Zip Code Course finder to any Website! • Takes 10-15 minutes, tops!
The WOW Project:“Pushbutton” Websites • NOT a template… • A true, data-driven (content-driven) site • The website is already built – • The unit just puts in the content (words, occasional images)
Demo (to follow) • Logging onto the WOW website • “Enabling” the site • Reviewing your default site • Logged in versus logged out • Adding a public education page • Adding a PE course • Viewing a PE flyer • Customizing a home page, add photograph • Link to another site • More…
What Else Can You Do? • Links to other Websites • Custom Pages (unlimited) • Re-order the menu items • Announcements/items that expire • Upload photographs/artwork (within reason) • Upload documents to link/serve
What about images? • Images are uploaded to WOW • Stored on WOW server “in the cloud” • Folder for each unit is supported • Photos are “bit reduced” when uploaded • Be prudent: Use images to sweeten web pages only. • Put “photo galleries” on commercial sites • Embed with an iframe tag National reserves the right to limit photosat any time.
What if You Know HTML? • Use it on any page • Accomplish any fine-grained task Except for workarounds, not recommended, because you will not always be the CS officer
Public Access to Your WOW Site http://axxxyyzz.wow.uscgaux.info http://a1141204.wow.uscgaux.info
Under the Hood VIRTUAL SERVER wow.uscgaux.info WOW DASHBOARD WOW II Application WOW Application UNIT TABLES DOCUMENTS & IMAGES http://axxxyyyzz.wow.uscgaux.info
Early returns… “You enabled me to create a website for my flotilla... Thank you so much. I am truly grateful….” Marti Bright-Jordan, Flotilla CommanderFlotilla 11-10 11SR Palm Desert "As SO-CS for the San Diego Division, I gained sufficient knowledge during a single WOW seminar to quickly create and customize websites for three flotillas that have never had one.” Randy Houk, SO-CSDivision 1 11SR San Diego
Summary • WOW-II offers an immediate Web presence to units without Websites or webmasters; • WOW sites are built around content, not around computer coding; Ordinary mortals such as Flotilla Commanders can maintain; • WOW sites can be tailored easily by such mortals to the unit’s specific needs.