Tim Lund wrote:Admin: is it okay for me to ask here for techie help with what I'm trying to do in Joomla with the SydSoc site?
Tim - very welcome. This is the place for technical discussion related to any Sydenham website in the grand tradition of sharing knowledge in this field.
Sean - yes the new design is built around video players on the front and other relevant stories. The BBC website has really pushed the envelope on incorporating video into its stories. And where the BBC goes we follow gently behind. There is the issue that to get 2/3 mins of watchable video takes more skill, more equipment, and more time than doing a still shot & 500 words. And bad video looks a lot worse than a bad still. Which is a problem.
We do have live travelboards on the station pages. I was planning a smaller, more compact frontpage which consists of the following components:
* News
* Picture/Video story
* Forum latest
* Diary Agenda view (as in Tims demo above with links to info about event)
Doesn't leave much room. On the other hand most use would be made between 6 & 9am. How about if it appeared then and was swapped out for one of the above at all other times. But it would mean a bit of fancy pagescraping and scripting with all that follows from that. And should we keep the weather forecast?
Anyone interested in fixing a time to meet up and discuss how we do things? My immediate concern is updating the SydSoc website, but although Stuart and I understand how our site will continue to perform a role distinct from STF, maybe it would be good to explain this to the rest of you, and just get to know you all as the basis for working together. I both want to learn about these technologies for their own sake, but I also want to be in a position to help out Stuart, and be able to get help myself with what I'm trying to achieve for SydSoc.
It is pencilled in for October 1st, our 10th anniversary. But with other things I haven't been able to do any work on it recenrly - apart from rejecting the work I did earlier.
So the true answer is - when it is ready October 1st or not.
I'll help with something but haven't quite worked out what yet.
I prefer the agenda view on the google calendar. Personal preference i suppose.
The only thing i can think of that you guys haven't already discussed is the introduction of an e-newsletter. Good way to generate interest and get users to view bits of the site you want them to see.
Yes - a small agenda view is planned for the frontpage. An e-newsletter was planned too. But SydSoc have introduced a weekly newsletter which would have much of the same information. Whether a fair proportion of people want two similar ones is a good question.
The other idea would be a monthly printed digest. The SE1 community website has a brilliant newsletter given out for free. But that would cost money and hence dependent on a sponsor or someone organising advertisements.
How about a new forum entitled TOWN ASSEMBLY. All the video/news reports could be in here along with Assembly discussions. If this Assembly to going to be as big as they hope then it will become a nice forum of Assembly discussion.