[Businessmtg] Webmaster

[Steve Rankin]

Hi Sandie,

 

While I haven't been involved in the operation of the web site since I
rotated out of being the List Owner, I was intimately involved in the
transition and training of the first List Administrator's and Web Master.

 

How much time is involved?

 

[Steve] 

[Steve] For the most part, very little. The web site is quite stable. The
most routine work involves updating pages with the current Treasurer's
Report, copies of Business Meeting motions and updates to the Trusted
Servant and Daily Chair assignment pages. I'd say less than an hour a week,
or perhaps even less than an hour a month the majority of the time.

 

OTOH, there is a learning curve to the job, which is likely to take more
time. How much more time is going to depend not just on the individual's
abilities to do the job, but also on their personal interest in delving into
the job more than is required.

 

The other side of the job is participation in the Steering Committee. This
is completely ad hoc. ASP tends to cruise along just fine 99.8% of the time
without any intervention by the Steering Committee. That other 0.2% may
require 15 minutes, or it may require several hours to deal with.

 

How much knowledge is involved? 

 

[Steve] 

[Steve] My personal practice has been to require the lowest possible
technical knowledge to serve in any Al-Anon service position. All too often,
we tend to defer to "experts" with technical knowledge and overlook the more
important working knowledge or our 12 Traditions and group traditions. I had
near zero knowledge pof HTML when I started ASP and WYSIWYG (what you see is
what you get) programs were just becoming available and definitely in their
infancy. 

 

ASP uses a program called Microsoft Expression Web to develop and maintain
the web site. Using this program is similar to using MS Word or any
contemporary word processing application. There are significant differences
and there is a learning curve invovled.  Frankly, I find it easier to use
Expression Web

 

If someone is computer literate but has never been involved with a webpage,
would they be able to handle it?

 

[Steve] 

[Steve] Absolutely!

 

Is it more important to be willing and responsible than experienced?[Steve]
\

 

[Steve] 

[Steve] Again, absolutely!

 

Frankly, someone who is NOT experienced is more likely to be able to do what
we need done without making technical changes that make the web site more
complex and hence require more expertise in the future.

 

Is it possible to do the work from a IPad?

 

[Steve] 

[Steve] Possible? Yes. Obviously, the Windows Expression Web application
owned by ASP will not run on an iPad, nor will it run on other Apple
products unless the machine is capable of installing and running Windows
apps.

 

However, it is still possible. There are two issues involved:

1.  Development & maintenance of web pages. This can be done with virtually
any text editor application. MS Expression Web just makes it easier because
of the WYSWYG interface. It is entirely possible to copy the HTML code of a
web page into any text editor (MS Word, for example) then make the desired
changes in the page to either create a new page or update an existing page.

2.  Uploading the web page from the user's machine to the server. This is
done with an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) application. While that feature is
built into MS Expression Web, I do NOT use it! I find it far easier and far
less snafu prone to use a simple FTP application such as FileZilla (free).
FTP apps are available for iPads.

 

FYI, while I am not an Apple/Mac aficionado, my wife does have an iPad
(which she loves) so I do have access to one to assist with the learning
process.