Website Questions

[Shell in WA- USA]

Our troop is still working on improving their site. But as far as types of info on it. I can share what my troop boys and parents like to see.

 

I'm the advancment chair of the troop, and I've posted things for the boys like:

where to go to find service projects,

a Life to Eagle guideline,

Tenderfoot guideline

how to advance the next three ranks

Merit Badges and Councelors available within the troop and outside

What a BOR is like and "how to be ready"

 

For the adults, I have guidelines for;

How to conduct a BOR and what's expected

Sign up for MB Counseling

How to "help" the boy advance and still let THEM do it

 

Other things on the site are;

How to pack for an outing, car camping vs hiking, etc

How to choose equuipment to purchase and best places to go

The troop inventory available for check out (tents, stoves, bags, etc)

How a patrol can plan for their outing

How to request an outing from the Troop committee and to get adult support

Tour permit forms (or where to go for them)

 

The troop patrols also do monthly demos and such at the meeting, many times they will post information about the subject they did at the meeting.

 

And we have fun stuff like pictures of our outings, district and Council events they may wish to participate in, etc.

 

As far as the legalities of the site, i don't really know. But I do know that when posting pictures, we only mention first names. And they haven't posted a roster online like many have requested due to security.

 

Colors, it's really up to you. I know that I gravitate to sites that are somewhat simple in nature or it's hard to read and get the info you're looking for. Boy scout colors would be easy and appropriate, but maybe a outdoor themed site would also be fun to use. (twig letters, outdoor equipment clipart, mountain or terrain backgrounds, etc)

 

Hope that gies you some ideas to work with.....Have fun! You know what would really be good, let your boy socut counterpart work with you on the troop site too. In our troop, it's the troop Scribe. But you could also elect a seperate webmaster. Let them get something out of it too.

 

 

 

[SR540Beaver]

Hops,

 

I have not read thru the BSA website guidlines recently, so I don't know if my content suggestion violates any policy. Something that really irritates me when visiting Troop sites is when they do not have any location or contact information. Since I am busy trying to recruit boys for the 2005 Jamboree, it would sure be nice to know when, where and what time a troop meets. Also, names and phone numbers for adult leadership. If they don't want to list their phone number, then at least an e-mail address. Take a look around at many troop websites and you'll notice that this type of information is often missing. Your troop website can be a possible method for new boy recruitment if you provide info on how to find you and who to contact. Oh yeah, list your city and state too. That often gets left off.

[Shell in WA- USA]

Our webmaster is careful with contact info as well. But it is listed where and when the troop meetings are. And for contact there's a couple email addresses listed.

 

Good point though......

[hops_scout]

Shell in Wa,

 

Apparently you didnt realize that there is no "scout counterpart" to my position. See, the thing is that I'm the scout. Not an adult leader.

 

 

Thanks

[evmori]

hops,

Use common sense. No last names for Scouts. No phone numbers or addresses. Meeting places & times are OK cause anyone can get these from you council office. Pictures are fine but no names in the captions (if you use them). Troop (Pack) history is good. Newsletters, permission slips, etc. are all fine. If you want you can check out our Troop site at www.bsa.net/pa/t1. There are links there to other Troop 1's throughout the country, too.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[AggieScouter]

I am not web expert, but I wanted our trrop to have a web site for communication. Add a Woodbadge ticket item and you have my site for our troop. Pretty basic, but it gets the job done. The hardest part is getting others to give me the info to update the site. We pay $50 a year for hosting, which includes domain name registration and 333 MB (huge) of space, email boxes etc.

 

You can check it out at http://www.troop80houston.org/

[rpushies]

Hello fellow Scouters. I have read through this thread on developing web sites. I would like to share my perspective. Keep in mind that the council and district guidlines reflect the legal ownership of these sites by the local council. If you develop a web site for your unit, keep in mind that your unit is owned by your chartered organization and not your local council. Therefore, you may want to make sure the content of your web site meets with the approval of your chartered organization.

 

Also, when determining what to put in your web site look to the reason you decided to create the web site. More often than not, you look at the web site as a way to communicate. Then the question becomes, comunicate what? The answer is: program or activity information, meetings, policy issues and other who, what, where, when types of information. Get permission of adults before posting their contact information on your web site. If people object to having their contact information posted on the world wide web, consider creating a password protected area of your site or a password protected document such as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Either way you will still want their permission before posting the information.

 

On the issue of obtaining permission to publish photographs of your youth members, consider including the parent authorization to publish photographs into your activity notice. Parents often support the idea of their child's picture being placed on the unit web site. But, they want to be assured that their child's safety is being protected and your permission slip lets them know you are sensitive to this issue. Including the permission into your activity notice makes it easier for them to say yes and reduces the pieces of paper you need to keep track of.

 

Yours Truly in Scouting.

rpushies

 

[FScouter]

rpushies - Excellent thoughts.

 

[queenj]

Hi, I'm a current Applied Information Tech student and one of the new webmasters for Maryland Cub Scout Pack 355. I'm currently redeveloping the website. I have a few more tips to add:

 

Don't overuse Flash or any kind of graphics.

 

Have a "Members Only" section that current Cub Scout leaders and parents can access. This would be ideally password-protected from the general public.

 

If your site has multiple pages, use a style sheeet to keep the pages uniform.

 

Keep the site simple so that the person following in your footsteps can easily keep the site going. If something is complicated, comment the html code.

 

Test the site using more than one browser. For example, Netscape is case-sensitive, but Internet Explorer is not.

 

That's all for now

[wetochwink]

I've been using Doubleknot Inc. services for my unit, our districts and our Council web site for the past two years.

 

http://www.doubleknot.com

 

At a unit level its a low cost option that is software independent and allows multiple users to make updates to specific features or all of them.

 

At a District / Council level - I've made the sites independent of software and one person. We now have an online store, accept online event registrations with / without e-payments, unlimited e-lists, Council MB Counselor list online (and restricted). Soon to launch online camping reservation database with them as well.

 

Service support has been great too.

 

http://www.maywood-bsatroop12.org

http://www.nnjbsa.org