Time to update?

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:46 pm

Hi In doing some artwork for the stickers it occurred to me that the www.bxclub.co.uk address opens what is now a very out of date, confusing page. I would hazard a guess that most club members see the forum as the main aspect of membership. So can I suggest we do some pruning? I would be happy to suggest a new layout for the home page (although I don't 'do websites' - HTML etc.) - a slightly less cluttered, logical, simpler design?

Some of it has been superseded by the forum content (for instance the 'Gallery' isn't working - it's sort of defunct), and other sections need highlighting better.

Promotion of the BXagon is clearly 'old' news and generally events are promoted within the Forum. By all means let's have a BXagon/Alan Smith memorial section with some pics from the event.

Any thoughts?

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 5:10 pm

I agree Phil. Bit of a Spring clean. Unfortunately I never got past the Sinclair ZX81 so I can't offer any practical assistance with the technical side.
I really like the job you did on your 'Philibusters' site but I know you're a busy fellow!

There certainly is a lot of old and out of date info. I only visit this club and forum so I don't know what other examples looks like re inspiration. You might have to lead the charge!

Jaba · Post by **Jaba** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:54 pm

Yes Phil you are right. The home page does need an update.
But this should not just be a one off thing. We need our own website editor to keep the content updated on a regular basis.

Whilst I do do websites I am not in a position to take it on though..........

Any volunteers ??

scarecrow · Post by **scarecrow** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:25 pm

First thing is to get everyone who's interested to outline what they'd like to see on the website. Then maybe we could whittle it down to what's practicable and then get a few people to design different parts of the site according to interest/skills/time, following a site template so that there's a seamless feel to it all.

I wouldn't mind being involved, though I wouldn't want to give up a huge amount of time, and I'm not able to offer long-term support.

Style is important - I'm a big fan of white-space and then let the content do the talking. Flash is okay if there is a reason for an animation other than, "look, I can do a Flash animation!". Flash might be handy for illustrating how things like the hydraulics work, I'd certainly like to see that.

Another angle where the knowledge on this forum could be immensely valuable would be in describing how to carry out maintenance tasks.

up to date list of garages and parts suppliers. Insurance, etc.

I guess this is all obvious stuff, and I think having a dynamic and active forum is what really counts.

rayfenwick · Post by **rayfenwick** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:07 pm

I quite agree. FWIW, I've often thought the site per se seems quite neglected in comparison to the forum.

mountainmanUK · Post by **mountainmanUK** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:25 am

Could be worth a list of Citroen part numbers for the "usual" bits which need replacing too. (or even some kind of cross-ref list to other potential sources)

Some very handy techy "fixes" are detailed all over the Forum, but could be better used if compiled into a more extensive list on the main site, to save trawling through hundreds of pages of posts to find the right one! (The Search facility, while ok, isn't exactly Google-like!)

Post by **docchevron** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:28 pm

I agree entirely, neither myself or Mat have access to change the front page though.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:30 pm

Then we need to contact the great Jon of Woodshire? FB be a good place to start?

Post by **docchevron** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:30 pm

no no, it's Jim and Xac's domain now.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:31 pm

The Jim of the East.... And Xac from planet Xant....

Post by **docchevron** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:33 pm

thats the ones!
Updating the mainsite has been mentioned before..

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:44 pm

There's a 'new look' for the FCF now. I think if we are too ambitious in our expectations of content, then it won't happen. Let's just make a decent portal to the forum first without worrying about diagrams, turtorials, buckets of technical info etc. The forum has much of that. All I might say is there needs to be a better search facility if possible.

And maybe it's time to improve the club identity and launch it with some new stickers/t-shirts etc. After all, 2012 is the 30th anniversary of the BX.

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:46 pm

Style is important - I'm a big fan of white-space and then let the content do the talking.

Me too - we've all been to web pages that are far too cluttered to easily find the info or links we want to get to.

Flash is okay if there is a reason for an animation other than, "look, I can do a Flash animation!". Flash might be handy for illustrating how things like the hydraulics work, I'd certainly like to see that.

Agreed. There is a version of XP that crashes when Flash is used and neither Microsoft nor Adobe can be bothered to get off their fat backsides to fix it. Since I'm still on dialup at the mo - and I have 'that' version of XP - I'm not a fan of Flash - though I'm sure it has it's uses.[/quote]

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:09 pm

I vote for a more direct route to the forum initially. This is where everything happens these days anyway.

Post by **Tim Leech** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:34 pm

Dollywobbler wrote:I vote for a more direct route to the forum initially. This is where everything happens these days anyway.

Quite agree.