[G_R__E_G]

Hi all,

I know several of you in North America are on the boards of your local ACBL Unit or District (and even if you're not you may have visited your local websites). Has anyone seen a website that's any good? I've recently joined my Unit's Board and I'm redesigning their site for them. I've only got it partially completed but I know it's going to be a big improvement. If you'd like to have a look it's at www.unit246.com/test. Please note that it isn't done so not all links are live and/or working properly.

My District is now asking if I will do a new site for them so I'm hoping to get some inspiration. To go through all of the Unit/District websites would be rather time consuming so I'm hoping maybe some of you have seen something that looks decent. Thanks.

[Mbodell]

I think my local district/unit sites are pretty reasonable. I prioritize information, and the ability to get what I want, over presentation (the presentation is a little dated although that is being worked on).

http://www.d21acbl.com/

Unit sites:
http://www.sjbridge.org/
http://www.paloaltobridge.com/

I think having the district have a map that links to unit sites is quite useful too: http://www.d21acbl.c...rict_21_Map.htm

[barmar]

Your district site seems to try to put too much stuff on the front page, making it hard to see anything.

Take a look at our district 25 site: www.nebridge.org

and our Eastern Mass Bridge Assocation unit site: www.acblemba.org

You have to go through an extra link to get into different areas, but I think it's easier to find things this way.

[JoAnneM]

What people want when they go to a District or Unit page, is:

Who are the officers and how do I contact them,
When are the tournaments, and I want to look at the flyer,
Tournament Results
Where are the games (Units)
Lessons (Units)
One link to the ACBL website
The District or Unit newsletter

Everything else is too much

The most important thing, no matter how the website looks, is that it be kept current.

[Mbodell]

barmar, on 2011-February-09, 17:51, said:

Your district site seems to try to put too much stuff on the front page, making it hard to see anything.

Take a look at our district 25 site: www.nebridge.org

and our Eastern Mass Bridge Assocation unit site: www.acblemba.org

You have to go through an extra link to get into different areas, but I think it's easier to find things this way.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I strongly prefer the district 21 site to the district 25 one. The important information on district 21 is on the left menu (schedule|results|partnership|...|Newcomer|Help) and on the top row with the Tournament Schedule links to up coming flyers and Tournament results with links to results. The schedule and results link list is updated nearly every week since we have a sectional (or regional or NAP/GNT event) in our district most weeks - and the content at the links with the results of regional/sectional are aimed at being updated on the web that night of play (at least for all regional and some sectionals).

Some of the same type of information (upcoming and recent regionals) is available on the d25 site but it is in the middle of the page which is harder for me to navigate and the upcoming sectional information is buried in the calendar and it looks like I can only get results for regional and NAP/GNT, not for sectionals.

I like the layout of the unit 108 site better, although I'm not a huge fan of the instant menus on learn/play/volunteer as it isn't obvious those are UI elements and the menus pop down a little quickly and cover the text beneath them in a jarring way for me. Also, there was important content I couldn't find that I would want and I'm not sure if it just isn't there or isn't easy to find - namely where are the results from the club games? If I wanted to see who played and how they did last Tuesday at the club I don't see how I do that. Maybe in your units the clubs don't put the results online, or they all do it at their own club web sites separate from the unit, but I'd want that information since the two most common things I check out online our upcoming flyers and past results (regional and sectional and club).

[Vampyr]

Mbodell, on 2011-February-11, 05:30, said:

where are the results from the club games?

I would find it very surprising if results from club games were posted on a Unit/District website. However, this information should be readily available, as there should be a page with links to all the local clubs.

[JoAnneM]

I don't think club results belong on a District website. For one thing it doesn't encourage individual Units or Clubs to develop their own sites, which I think are most important. Also, the ACBL module for posting games online works really well and, just from one survey, my Club really loves it.

[G_R__E_G]

Thanks for your input folks - much appreciated.

Jan I agree 100% with you on not wanting Units/Districts so post club results although, for the same reason, I also disagree with the idea of the ACBL posting them on their site. What they should do instead is offer clubs subdomains and provide an easy tool to maintain a club website. These two things are incredibly simple to do and would be huge for a lot of clubs that don't have the wherewithal to build/host their own site.

[blackshoe]

We did that, way back when, on the Rochester Area (RABA) site. None of the clubs were interested. They've been convinced to post their results online (we gave them a facility for that), most of them, but some of them at least, wish the players weren't so insistent about wanting it. Others use an email list to send out results.

[Mbodell]

I disagree pretty strongly as I like to be able to see all the games on one site. It is the unit sites that have the club results. Maybe this is different in other units with larger land area or more clubs. This might be influenced by the fact that in the two units I play in most frequently each has one main club. But they have 2-4 other minor clubs in addition. But it is nice to see it all on one site.

The Unit 507 web site has a link to game results off the front page that gives you the results in a calendar form. I think this is much better than having to hunt down the results from individual clubs (which I agree should be free to have their own sites too, but a central site for the unit is nice).

[y66]

I really like the ACBL Unit 147 web site. The content is amazing and up-to-date. Hat's off to Don Berman, Steve Robinson & others.

[TimG]

y66, on 2011-February-12, 10:24, said:

I really like the ACBL Unit 147 web site. The content is amazing and up-to-date. Hat's off to Don Berman, Steve Robinson & others.

They may have great content, but the front page is a mess, in my opinion. I have the same problem with the District 21 website. While the District 25 web site has far less content, it is much simpler and to my way of thinking that is a plus (though they should have an upcoming tournaments section in the left hand menu rather than relying upon people to go to the calendar or the middle of the page).

I like Greg's effort that he linked in the opening post. I think it is cleaner than any of the other examples linked in this thread and has the all important menus on the left (set aside rather than blending in) that will get people to where they want to go without much effort.

I am of the opinion that regional results should be found on District pages and sectional results on Unit pages. Though, of course, it should be easy to navigate from one to the other. It is nice if a Unit hosts club results, but not necessary. I'd be just as happy with easy navigation from Unit pages to individual clubs for their results. STACs or Unit Wide type games would be an exception.

[y66]

TimG, on 2011-February-12, 15:27, said:

They may have great content, but the front page is a mess, in my opinion. I have the same problem with the District 21 website. While the District 25 web site has far less content, it is much simpler and to my way of thinking that is a plus (though they should have an upcoming tournaments section in the left hand menu rather than relying upon people to go to the calendar or the middle of the page).

I like Greg's effort that he linked in the opening post. I think it is cleaner than any of the other examples linked in this thread and has the all important menus on the left (set aside rather than blending in) that will get people to where they want to go without much effort.

I am of the opinion that regional results should be found on District pages and sectional results on Unit pages. Though, of course, it should be easy to navigate from one to the other. It is nice if a Unit hosts club results, but not necessary. I'd be just as happy with easy navigation from Unit pages to individual clubs for their results. STACs or Unit Wide type games would be an exception.

I understand your preference for simpler, cleaner looking layouts. It is not easy to find the balance between clarity and ease of navigation. Here's a non-bridge page by a usability expert that falls somewhere in between, perhaps closer to the denser end of the spectrum than the simpler end but well organized so that the "busy-ness" is not distracting and navigation complexity is minimal.

[suprgrover]

Mbodell, on 2011-February-12, 03:53, said:

I disagree pretty strongly as I like to be able to see all the games on one site. It is the unit sites that have the club results. Maybe this is different in other units with larger land area or more clubs. This might be influenced by the fact that in the two units I play in most frequently each has one main club. But they have 2-4 other minor clubs in addition. But it is nice to see it all on one site.

The Eastern Massachusetts unit site that barmar likes is going to be different by necessity--EMBA has 34 clubs.