Behind the Scenes of the New NWB Website
By Richard Mackenzie
Feeling a little like someone who’s been in labor for several months, I happily present the end result -- the newborn NWB Pool website. Like any good collection on the Internet, it is far from a final product. Hopefully, it will continue always to evolve as a work in progress.
We wanted to make it a site that would be easy to access and would brim with information. It had to be pleasant to peruse and fun rather than hard work to negotiate. We wanted to not only reflect the NWB of today but also to capture the grand tradition of both the club and the swim team.
You’ll find a bunch of facts and figures, anecdotes and trivia. If, at first glance, you think there’s too much to absorb in one sitting, that’s just fine. We wanted it to be a place you could come back to again and again -- and find something new every visit.
Most of the pages on our site are indexed at the top of every web page. But not always. Be on the look-out for internal links on each page that will take you to hidden treasures. For example, you would not want to miss photo albums going back into the last century (indexed on the Photo Library page), an archive of swimmers’ times over the years or the link to a photo of two of our current coaches that suggests they are lost in time (in Dolphins News).
We’ve tried to walk a fine line between the pool and the swim team. The two are inexorably linked, of course. Neither could quite exist without the other. But, at the same time, this is an NWB website. As we all know, you don’t have to be a member of the Dolphins to participate in and enjoy NorthWest Branch Pool. Having said that, we can build an even better foundation for NWB itself with the right contributions from you -- words, photos or video. As we explain on the About Us page, the NWB Website is launching “Project Dolphin,” an exercise to gather an eternal history of our oasis.
At the same time, we’re not locked into the past. For some 21st Century technology, check out our Screening Room where we’re starting to build a video library of great events in NWB’s modern times.
We’re also in real need of up-to-date photos that capture not only the swim team at work and play but also the beauty and lifestyle of the club and its grounds. Any volunteers who would like to help out with the website will be warmly welcomed.
Happy Surfing..
Saturday, January 28, 2006
