halfacrecycling.org

--- title: halfacrecycling.org --- # About My main objective for the website it to move it from Squarespace to a platform that gives us the capacity to expand it beyond it's current limitations. The solution is a CMS(content managment system) that provides better capabilities for managing content, making it easier to work with and offering unlimited ability to expand. Having a CMS allows for full control of site structure as well as the front-end design. The idea is that any team member has the ability to contribute to the site, without worrying about the details. It will also be very easy to update the general design elements (colors, logos, etc.) without requiring any coding knowledge. ## Problems it solves Having a CMS overcomes a number of issues for the team. It will allow us to share and store information (both public and team only) in a central location, rather than scattered between various sources like bikereg, social, slack, Google docs, etc. One thing making the current site difficult to manage is the limitation on number of pages. For new content to be added, something must be removed. The change allows us to create the content we need without losing anything. The CMS can also help solve problems beyond the current site. For example, there are a number of topics that get asked about repeatedly in Slack. Because data isn't archived the same answers get repeated just as frequently. Having a place to share information and ideas that persists beyond a 90 day limit would be massively helpful. It can also help improve processes like race planning and onboarding new members. ## Goals 1. Provide a central place for sharing information that isn't subject to the limitations of a third party 2. Give all team members ability to contribute to and get benefit from the site 3. Make it easier to find and access relevant information (for both teammates and non-members) 4. Promote the teams community efforts (grants, etc.) 5. Better understand who our teammates are 6. Promote our races and provide clarity about race details 7. Simplify the workflow of common tasks 8. Improve the value we offer sponsors 9. Retain an archive of existing content 10. Allow for front-end theming independent of the backend structure # Structure There are three components to the site, public content, private content, and the control panel. Public content is what is visible to anyone visiting halfacrecycling.org. Private content is only be visible to users who are given the correct access permissions. The control panel is an admin section where site content and features are managed. ## Control Panel The Control Panel is where content is created and edited, along with administrative tasks associated with the site. The default control panel contains a lot of options and can be a bit overwhelming, so features can be limited based on what each user needs. ### Users/Permissions User profiles are managed through the control panel. Permissions control what each user is allowed to see (or edit). We have close control over exactly what is accessible to each user type, in both private content and the control panel. There are currently four types of permissions with the following access: - Team Member: - Dashboard with team news, links, etc. - Ability to create/edit their own ride reports and rider profile - Private content on the website - Team photo bucket - Content manager: - Adds permission to edit content created by others - Can create/edit races, sponsors, and additional pages - EC: - Add/remove members at all other permission levels - Manage Password Assignment/Resets - Permissions to edit and update all editable content - Developer: - Out of necessity, developers have full permissions and access to all sections of the site, including creating new content layouts, editing permissions, and running updates We may also want to consider some additional user types: - Guest/attendee A place to store contact details for people who have attended rides or races. Useful for further outreach. - Nominee We can provide access to a private section of the site with up to date documentation and instructions Once we settle on the final design, we'll invite all team members to create an account and configure their profile before launch, (profiles can be set to private if they don't wish them to be publicly visible). ### Content Most content is grouped into four main sections: Team, Events, News and Sponsors, each has it's own set of structured data along with various page layouts to display that data. Other pages and user profiles also have their own structured data and layouts. They function similarly but are more bespoke. ##### Team Team is replacing the about us page. The team page currently doesn't have any unique content. Instead it is populated with cards based on user profiles. Each card links to a profile page for that team member. Each team member can manage the details of their profile through the control panel. **Front-end Status** Team profile pages are complete. They do have some limitations on image size that might need some tweaking once we start using them. The layout of team page is fully functional with only the profile cards. It would benefit from further content development, but we can launch as is unless we have immediate ideas on how to improve. ##### Events Events is for info about upcoming races, rides, or social gatherings that we are hosting. There are three types of events with subsequent pages for each: - Races - Race/Series Page (e.g. Skyway, CXE, Montrose) - Single Race Occurence (specific dated occurence of that race) - Rides - Ride details (for social rides like WNM) - Race/ride attendance (for other events where we will have a large presence) - Social - Any future social events (e.g. fundraisers, we host would also have). Page layouts will be based on the information relevant to that event. Separating the race pages from the race occurence pages allows the details about each race to persist alongside an archive of past races without repetition. Having past race pages prevents the need to remove thing like results, single race sponsor support, and other specific info. **Front-end Status** Events is the only area that still needs significant work. The basic structure for the page templates exists, but I still need to do a lot of work on the display of the content. The main Events page won't have any editable content. It will be a listing of the various events under the headings **Races**, **Rides**, and **Social** (if applicable). Each event will link to it's respective page. Each race type or race series will get it's own page. In addtion to general info about the event it will provide details about the next occurence of the event and an archive of past occurences of that event. Prior to each event the single Race/Ride page will contain the details about that specific event (date, location, art, registration link, etc.). After the event it can be updated to add things like results lists, or photos. ##### News This is essentially a blog. It includes ride reports and anything else we want to share publicly. The editor is a custom page builder that allows for basic editing similar to what Squarespace offers. **Front-end Status** The page builder is complete and several posts have been entirely transferred. The process of transferring content from Squarespace may surface a few issues that can be addressed ad hoc. I've completed minimal styling of the feed that is completely useable, if a little bland. I have ideas to improve it and am open to additional input, but consider updates a low priority. There are still a few design issues relating to the content: - How do we handle posts that don't have images, or the images are small or low quality? - Is there any other content we want to feature on the news page? (I'm considering adding sponsors?) ##### Sponsors Each sponsor has a simple data structure including their logo, a link to their website and social accounts, and a brief description. **Front-end Status** The sponsors are only mentioned on the home page. The logos are linked directly to their websites. Since the sponsor pages aren't accessible I haven't worried about creating a front-end for them yet. The homepage logo section will display any image file, but I designed the styling around specifically formatted vector files (SVG). Some JPGs and PNGs may work, but tend to not work well with the desaturation format I used. If I can aquire SVGs for the remaining sponsors this won't be an issue, otherwise I may need adjust the approach taken here. #### Other Pages/Content We can add other informational pages as needed. A few exist already on the current site but may need updates to the content or formatting. I've added them along with a few other pages that we might want to consider creating content for: - DEI - Grants - Manifesto - Membership/Join Us ##### Header/Navigation/Footer The header is functional but I disabled some animation features to prevent a seizure inducing bug. As a result the navigation overlaps the content in some areas. I intend to address this before launch. The footer is fully functional across devices. ##### Home The only unique/editable content on the home page is the the hero. It needs a few tweaks to the front-end to fix visibility on mobile devices. That will be incorporated into the work on the header/nav. ### Additional Features - Form builder - No more dependence on Google forms. Incoming data is stored in the control panel and can trigger other actions. (Imagine being able to transtion someone from WNM attendee, to nominee, to team member with nothing more than a few checkboxes!) - Status: It's functional, but I requires custom styling to make it look good. I intend to address that after launch. We will need to discuss who will get access to the form builder, as well as the form submission data. - Photo bucket - A place for team mates to share photos so they are accessible perpetually and are immediately available for use on the site. - Status: The bones of this exist, but it's use is pending finding a reasonable way to host all the data. It would be _very_ expensive to store ALL the images in it's current configuration. - Private pages/documents - I envision this being a place we can host many things that are strewn throughout various Google Docs right now. (e.g. archive of minutes, resource lists, order sheets) - Status: Doesn't require any configuration to use. Depending on how we use it we need to configure other parts of the site for accessing We should probably have a plan for how it can or should be used to prevent chaos. - Transactional Email - Interactions with the site Emails for things like notifications, - Status: It's fully functional using a third party service (Postmark). I have it setup on the same account I use for clients. It won't be an issue as long as it is within reasonable use (1000 sends/month). I it goes beyond that we can look at other options. # What I need right now These are roles and responsibilites the team can take on to help me complete the site: - Team members to test the admin panel and editor for completeness and usability. - One EC member - One+ content editors - At least one other person willing to help transfer and reformat content from Squarespace (mostly old ride reports). - Note: This requires zero tech knowledge. You will also be helping me test the user-friendliness of the content editor, so the less you know the better. - People to refine and format content for additional information pages--primarily around DEI, race grants, and membership. - Aquire Vector logos from sponsors. The remaining active sponsors I don't have SVGs for are: - Tailwind - Bike Lane - Malört - Someone willing to help me finalize the visual design of the events section. I have a rough idea what it needs to be but could use a conversation partner while I work on it.