Flat To Dynamic
Thousand Oaks Computer Club (California) moves its website from flat to dynamic
The Thousand Oaks Computer Club (California) website (http://www.topcc.org) has
moved from a flat site that was created with Dreamweaver to a dynamic site
created using a “content management system” (aka CMS) using DotNetNuke
(www.dotnetnuke.com ). DotNetNuke has a Microsoft SQL database on the back-end.
They have also moved their website to GoDaddy.com because GoDaddy supports
having a Microsoft SQL database at a reasonable price.
What does this mean to website visitors? Here are a few of the new features:
- Searchable - The new website will be searchable.
- Menu System - The updated menu system is easier to maintain. Every page is
only one click away, even if it’s in a sub-menu.
- Calendar - The calendar is a real calendar that can be updated by designated
people, not just a single webmaster. For example, the Photo Group will update
the Photo Group Calendar and the Video Makers will update the Video Makers
Calendar.
- Master Calendar - Each SIG may have their own separate calendars, but they
will have a master calendar that combines information from all calendars. The
master calendar is also filterable.
- Tables are searchable and sortable - For example, you can sort Software
Reviews by Title, Publisher, Reviewer, Review Date, or Category. You can search
Software Reviews by title, reviewer, category, description, or web site. We
will also have an Articles page that can be sorted and searched.
- Pages will be more current - Instead of having a single webmaster (who may
only update once a week or so!), other people can be given permission to update
certain parts of the web site. There will no longer be the delay between the
webmaster receiving the update, and posting it on the web site. Changes can be
made immediately.
Those will be the immediate changes. Future features may include:
- User-specific information - They might have pages that are only viewable to
TOPCC members.
- Forum (aka Message Board) - DotNetNuke comes with a Forum module that will
allow TOPCC to set up forums where questions and other discussions can be
posted.
- Surveys - DotNetNuke comes with a survey module. Results are displayed as a
bar graph.
- Other modules include a Blog, Wiki, Feedback, and a Repository.