I recently posted the message below on US Scouts' forum and was directed to Scouter by one of your moderators. I'd love to have your feedback.
Hey guys, I recently took over the Webmaster position at the National Council (about 6 months ago on a contract basis)and I'm trying to get some "free form" feedback on ways to improve the site(s)that we currently manage and get you the information you need organized in a cohesive order.
We have a survey posted on the front page of scouting.org if you would like to participate, but I would like to capture your opinions as the front line guys/gals on the design, organization, features in more detail here as we well.
I'd like to highlight a few of the changes we've made over the last few months:
RSS Feeds - What's hot, Cubcast and the Commisioner's Podcasts are already available as RSS feeds and we are looking at making more available.
FileStore - For the webmasters out there: All images, files etc are in the process of being moved to a central file location and naming convention. What this means is that if you happen to know the image name, file extension and file name you can point your website to this location. Files are organized by file type in an easy to use stand. For example, www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/13-239.pdf will get you the New Den Leader pdf. This should enable you to also easily locate any document that you need by bin number.
Google Search - Scouting.org is currently being indexed via a google appliance and is fully searchable via the search field on the page headers. This allows you to find articles, forms etc much easier than the previous search feature.
Widgets - As you may already know, the Boys Life team has been working on producing some great widgets for their site. Check them out at www.boyslife.org/home/2401/put-boyslifeorg-on-your-website/ . We are looking at creating similar widgets that you could place on your sites if you choose to do so. We have identified a few that we are tackling first - Cubcast, Value of Scouting and Health and Safety Alerts. I'd like your opinions on any info that you would like to see as a widget to make your lives easier.
I look forward to hearing from you guys!
- Chad