What do you want in a grotto website?

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What do you want in a grotto website?

Postby bsignorelli » Jun 24, 2006 4:09 pm

What do you want to see when you visit your grotto website? After perusing a whole lotta grotto websites I've come to the conclusion that they all follow a similar template.

Typical sections include: Who we are, Meetings, Membership, Photos

What else would you like to see on your grotto website? I ask because we are in the process of collecting ideas for our website :-)
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Re: What do you want in a grotto website?

Postby mgmills » Jun 24, 2006 7:58 pm

bsignorelli wrote:What do you want to see when you visit your grotto website? After perusing a whole lotta grotto websites I've come to the conclusion that they all follow a similar template.

Typical sections include: Who we are, Meetings, Membership, Photos

What else would you like to see on your grotto website? I ask because we are in the process of collecting ideas for our website :-)



I like those that recognize that not everyone has a high-speed connection. :hairpull: I have a dial-up connection and I like thumbnail pics that load quickly with the option to click on those that interest me.

Make sure the pictures depict save and conservation oriented caving practices. I hate seeing a picture of unsafe vertical practices or pictures of people touching formations. :cave softly:

In the who we are section it is nice to list contact info and current officers. It is also nice to discuss projects that the grotto has participated in.

A safety statement and info on ethical caving practices (conservation, asking permission to visit, etc) is a good idea.

Links to other sites of interest are good too.
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Postby wendy » Jun 24, 2006 8:59 pm

I think the FSS has a nice website


http://www.caves.com/fss
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Postby graveleye » Jun 26, 2006 7:45 am

I agree with you Wendy. The FSS website is pretty darn good.

I like trip reports, especially well written trip reports that describe all aspects of the trip with a dash of humor.. doesnt even matter if its inside humor. I enjoy reading a good trip report where I can get a feeling for the spirit and comradery of the group. Good pictures are nice too.
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Postby Kel » Jul 14, 2006 11:25 am

I would enjoy non-caving 'trip' reports, as well. For example, a report on presentations of ethical caving to non-cavers or school kids, and the responses.
And maybe a "Member of the Month" section or a series about the history of the grotto.
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Postby hunter » Jul 14, 2006 2:49 pm

A well researched links section can be really nice...

Just a word of warning on officer info. I did notice that when my email was listed on a website as an office for a club I ended up getting a great deal of junk mail. Some spammers use automated search tools to find and then spam listed emails... Some trickery can help reduce this issue.

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Re: What do you want in a grotto website?

Postby Ralph E. Powers » Jul 14, 2006 5:20 pm

bsignorelli wrote:What do you want to see when you visit your grotto website? After perusing a whole lotta grotto websites I've come to the conclusion that they all follow a similar template.

Typical sections include: Who we are, Meetings, Membership, Photos

What else would you like to see on your grotto website? I ask because we are in the process of collecting ideas for our website :-)

I like how the Utah websites are put together... I think more photos are always a plus and sized nicely too. Just looking at thumbnails or small pics doesn't give the full appreciation of the caves and the people.
Historical data is nice... to know more about this or that cave.
Present projects that are either on-going or of special note (clean ups, gating, etc.).
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Postby copelandcaver7 » Apr 20, 2007 3:46 am

Websites that are updated more than once a Year, is a big thing. A lot of grotts never updated their websites.
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Postby Dane » Apr 20, 2007 7:48 am

On the technical side, we use the "MediaWiki" engine - this enables members to add, edit, update, etc info on the site.
If you are familar with Wikipedia, it is from the same people and is really ideal for this kind of application.
If it isn't up to date, there are no pic's or trip reports, etc, it is our own fault.
I think it is great concept and I believe it takes a lot of the day-to-day tasks off the plate of a single webmaster, allowing them to focus on technical issues that may arise.
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Postby David Grimes » Oct 22, 2007 9:12 pm

I like to see typical things like who we are, current projects, photos, an up to date calendar, contact info, and membership info
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Postby subter » Oct 23, 2007 7:08 pm

i second copelandcaver7... just update the darn thing. Give me a reason to visit it more than once. I also agree with graveleye... having trip reports, especially current ones, can alert other cavers to changes or hazards in a cave that perhaps didn't exist before... the other thing, which is much more difficult to control is participation.. what we have here on cavechat is indeed rare. my .02
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Postby Jeff Bartlett » Oct 23, 2007 8:04 pm

totally year-old thread, dude
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Postby tncaver » Oct 24, 2007 9:59 am

Updated grotto websites are what keeps the interest
going, as well as upcoming trips that offer an opportunity
for new cavers to participate.
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what a website can consist

Postby Leclused » Oct 31, 2007 9:04 am

In our Caving club (sc Avalon - Belgium) we try to provide information via several ways.

We have our website http://www.scavalon.be which consist of all classic information + cave infomation for belgium, information about our discoveries and expeditions, technical information, conservation information, picture galeries, access regulation, links. This infomation is relativly static and is updated from time to time.

For the daily infomation about discoveries and other cave related things we use a blog where everybody of our club can post on

scavalon.blogspot.com

The blog is very flexible and fast way of providing information.

We also have a club magazine (roughly every 6 weeks) which is also
published on our website.

http://www.scavalon.be/avalonuk/avalon_flash.htm (sorry only in dutch)

I think this is a good start for providing information to the outside world.


BR

Dagobert L'Ecluse (Sc Avalon - Belgium)
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Postby NZcaver » Oct 31, 2007 10:48 am

Welcome, leclused! :waving:

Great website - lots of good information, and some fantastic photos. :kewl:

I love your trophy for exceptional team-spirit and effort (it's made from a piece of limestone and a stack of totally worn pulleys from Petzl descenders).
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