Looking at Civic Associations

I just spent some time looking at civic association sites from around Pennsylvania. Some are very impressive and professional (Society Hill, New Britain). Others are just pages on larger community websites, (Bryn Mawr). Some are pretty basic (Wyndmoor). Others need some assistance sizing photos (Buckingham Township). I feel a bit overwhelmed at this point. I need to remember the association is regrouping after many years so this site (if approved as a topic) is just a starting point. Still, I feel like I need to do much more thinking and planning.

Planning, Planning, Planning

Hooray!!! I finished the Website Evaluation Report last night, but I am too nervous to submit. I never really trust the electronic delivery. I think I will do some blogging and posting and then send away.

I have been playing with ColorBlender (please see my previous post for more details) and have created a color combination featuring greens with light purples that looks nice, almost soothing. I wrote down the combination numbers, but think I will play some more. I am not sure purple would be appropriate. I would like to incorporate brown so I end up with dark greens, browns, and whites, somewhat playing on the idea of trees and sidewalks.

Here is a bit of information about my neighborhood that I found on our town's civic association website.

I am also making notes to organize thoughts about possible pages:

1. Homepage: Greater Gladstone Civic Association or Gladstone Manor
2. News (meetings; minutes)
3. Events (recent; upcoming)
4. History (history of the neighborhood; items of interest from the past)
5. Out and About (photoss; meet your neighbors)
6. Links (Lansdowne Borough resources; fun things to do in the neighborhood)
7. About (purpose of site; blurb about site creator)

This will be fun, but a lot of work. I never realized how much planning was involved. I suppose the more planning, the smoother the final site will come together and work.

An Interesting Website with Color Suggestions

I was doing some online research on color and website design and came across a pretty neat site, ColorBlender. The homepage allows you to blend red, green, and blue using sliding scales and then suggests a six-color pallette based on your selection.

The second page presents 225 combinations already created. If you click on any one of the selections the site pops the selection into the sliding scale and allows you to adjust it to your liking.

It is very clever and lots of fun!

Color, Color, Color

While taking a walk this evening I decided (should my site be based on the civic association) to make green a predominant color. We have lots of trees and old fashioned street lights that are dark green. I am thinking a darker green would make a better accent color than background or text. Then again, it might work as a text color on the right background--white?!? tan?!? (Both sound boring.)

More thoughts on the Greater Gladstone Civic Association

The more I mull it over, the more I think a website on the Greater Gladstone Civic Association might work:

• There is an interesting history to the neighborhood: the original homes, built in the 1920s, on the grounds of an old estate, were designed to look like an English country village.


• The association holds monthly meetings and sponsors three annual events in the summer, the fall, and December.


• There is a push to place the neighborhood on the National Historic Register.


• There are also a number of controversial issues buzzing about, including the borough's plan to completely reorganize street parking.

I definitely think I could incorporate those items (and others...now to think about what they could be) into several pages. The association has a historian who I could work with obtaining information on the history as well as photos.

There is a unique mix of residents in the community, but most seem are older (retired) or in their thirties or forties. The older group (very active) in the civic association has been apprehensive about electronic communications. (The current president suggested ceasing publication of the monthly print newsletter to move to email newsletters only. So far this has not happened.) I would want the site to be very user-friendly, easy to navigate and read, so that all members would feel comfortable using it.

Final Website Topics

I began this course with an idea for my final website topic, but after last week's class, realize it would not be appropriate. I have two young daughters and am regularly asked by six grandparents (all first-time grandparents), two aunts, and an uncle (all living a distance) for photos to be emailed. I thought I could do a site featuring family photos and events, plus notes on our town and some of our favorite things to do. (It might help me organize the photos stored on my computer as well.) However, given the subject has little interest to those outside of the Victoria and Charlotte family circle, I realized during last week's class I will have to think of another topic. (That said, I will insert a shameless plug and photo of the girls taken earlier this year.)

When Professor Corse showed us examples of websites from previous quarters one stood out. Someone did a site for a small library in Delaware County, which had previously not had one. I am active in my local civic association and many members have expressed an interest in a website. I need to think on this. The difficulty would be coming up with ideas for each page. Hmmm. More on that later.

Day One...

This is new to me.

I am a graduate student in library and information science at Drexel University working in a course called Internet Resource Design, or INFO 652. We are learning to critique websites, understand the magic and mysteries behind them, and, finally, how to create our own web site. I have two ideas for my final project, but listening to Professor Corse lecture as I type, I realize one will be ruled out almost immediately as it is too narrow a topic.

Let the fun begin. I have been looking forward to taking this class.