Tips for Terrific Sites

Every month, a "Tip for Terrific Sites" is published in CommunityNet's email newsletter, 'Panui'. This page acts as an index to past tips, and will be updated from time to time. 

Each month our web-maestro, Miraz Jordan, publishes a web-writers tip, or reviews a website we think is great. The aim is to promote excellence in electronic publishing for and by tangata whenua and community organisations. The latest tip is here.

These useful tips cover effective use of Internet technology, including good navigation, accessible design, quality content and opportunities for interaction.

Published Terrific Tips checklist:

ZoomIn maps 

[June 2006] Let people know how to get to your offices or public event.

Forget the dub dub dub

[May 2006] What address does your website use? What happens if your visitors leave out the www at the start?

Paypal

[April 2006] Does your community group sell a few books or resource kits? Would you like to receive donations? You don't need a whole e-commerce setup on your website for small scale, casual sales. Many people around the world use Paypal to send and...

Google Adsense

[March 2006] If you're not averse to a little carefully selected advertising, you can make a few dollars from your website without a lot of effort using Google's Adsense.

Website Review

[February 2006] When did you create your website or last do a major overhaul? Chances are that quite a few months or even years have slipped by since the last time you really paid attention to what's on your website.

Basecamp

[December 2005] How do you manage projects? Scraps of paper? Expensive software? Brain cells? Try Basecamp, a free online tool.

Internet phone calls

[November 2005] Phone calls can be expensive, especially if you have to pay national or international toll fees. It's worth looking into using Voice over IP (VoIP), or in other words using your Internet connection for making effectively free...

Instant Messaging Chat

[October 2005] As a community group you may need to communicate with committee members, volunteers, 'clients', other community groups, the media, the general public, and you will use various means such as phone, email, text messages, faxes, letters, newsletters and websites.

Flickr your photos.

[September 2005] One thing community groups often want to do is take and share photos. Your conference, new committee, fundraising day, end of year picnic — whatever the occasion you might like to take some photos. And having collected a memory card full of photos, what do you do with them?

The problem with frames

[August 2005] Some websites use "frames" as a way to keep some information in front of visitors' eyes all the time while the rest of the information changes. This can cause a lot of problems for visitors though. Find out why you might be better to choose another method.

Filenames

[July 2005] If you make files such as Word documents or PDFs available for visitors to download or you send attachments be careful how you name the files.

Write it together

[June 2005] Collaborating on a document can be hard work as you send a file to and fro, work out how to incorporate the changes, deal with delays. By using the Internet though, you could experiment with a Wiki for joint efforts.

Blog your group's events

[May 2005] If you need to keep people informed but e-mail isn't enough and you don't have time, skills or money for a website, then a Blog may be the answer. It's free, and really easy; read on for a guided tour.

Password protect a Word document

[April 2005] If you use Microsoft Word you can easily protect a document — but don't lose the password!

Word, PDF or HTML?

[March 2005] What's the best file format for documents you want to share electronically?

Send the right message

[February 2005] You've designed a conference programme with photos, explanations of the workshops, a registration form, extra information. What's the best way to distribute this?

Camera, lights, action!

[December 2004] Add some movies, images, sounds to your web site as you see fit, but tell your visitors what you're doing and give them the controls.

Get the picture

[November 2004] Images can add life to web-sites, but increase load times. This month's Tip tells you how to make sure your pictures don't drive away your visitors

Readable text

[October 2004] This month's Tip suggests keeping pages brief and using plenty of headlines.

Static or dynamic?

[September 2004] Static or dynamic? Continuing our Tips for Terrific Sites, this month's Tip explains the difference between static and dynamic sites.

Getting Around

[August 2004] This Tip suggests making sure your visitors can find their way or navigate around your site.

See with the visitor's eyes

[July 2004] See with the visitor's eyes — stand back and take a new look at your site.

Make Page Titles Count.

[June 2004] The Title you chose for your page has a great influence on how viewers and search engines find it. So … Make Page Titles count.

Top Three Tips for Tremendous Sites

[May 2004] This month our Website Review takes a slightly different turn. We present you with Top Three Tips for Tremendous Sites:

• Use 'Alternate text' on images
• Make your links meaningful
• Write for understanding