If you're in the habit of going directly to this forum, rather than through the m2c2.org home page, you've probably not noticed that we have a new face to the world. Yes, our redesigned web site is up and running.

That's the easy part. Now we need YOUR input on what features you'd like to see there; how to make forums functional, etc. Please PM 20cooper04, our esteemed webmaster, with your suggestions.

And, as always, feel free to e-mail any of the club officers with any ideas you have to make the club better: this is YOUR club. You'll find our contact info on the web site.

 

The following is pure personal opinion. It's not meant to be an attack on anyone so no one get your undies in a knot. Since you asked for imput, I just feel the need to express myself on the new "improved" look of the club website from my perspective.

That said, to me, it’s no more than a cleaned up version of the old website. In short, it's boring, bland, and uninspiring. A website should be a look into whoever is putting the site up. It needs to “say” something that attracts other people’s attention and piques their curiosity to look closer at what’s being offered. Ask yourself, does the new look bring a swell of enthusiasm to your blood? Does it make you say "WOW! What a cool club!"?. Does it doesn't jump out and say, "Hey, this is a fun group. Come explore what we offer."?

To me, the answer to all 3 questions is “No!”. In fact, it gives me no feeling at all. I take that back. It does give me a feeling, but not the one it’s supposed to. It comes across with a feeling of someone who had to put up a website for something they didn’t care about and didn’t want to be bothered putting any time or thought into it. I don’t know about any of the rest of you, but I don’t feel this is the image of our club we want to present to the rest of the world.

The site needs to represent the passion and enthusiasm of its present members. It also must answer the previous three questions with a resounding “YES”. If it fails to do these simple things, then it is a failure in how we want to be viewed as a club.

 

Moorlockx --

I'm not going to speak for the designer, but you're correct; the new site is a cleaned-up version of the original.

The look of the original site was something this club had very little control over; we were able to choose the color of the background and a very small banner at the top. The main reason we made some major changes to the site was to have more control over both format and function on our web site. The current site is a starting point; it's something that contains the same functions as the last one and little more. Other features are on the way, but we've not begun to explore the possibilities of design.

Now for the tough part: Do you have any specific suggestions we could work on? I can't speak for the entire board, but my philosophy from the first meeting that this club is member-driven, so we're open -- welcoming, even -- to input. PM me, or Kevin, or 20cooper04 -- or post them here.

Thanks for the comments, Bob.

Lee

 

I have to agree with Moorlockx here that it does look, well, life-less.

Check out this link. I know its a member's website. (Atlanta MINIs) but, it looks like they are having fun.

http://www.sweetdaisy.net/

Kinda like being an enthusiastic MINI owner is a lifestyle. When I browsed the photos and such, I thought to myself... "Hey, I should drive down to Atlanta to attend their events."

This is a grassroots sort of thing and the club website although clean, streamlined and easy to navigate... looks corporate.

This isn't a critique on anyone's ability, but I think we all want to be represented by something that reflects our motoring community, diverse, colorful and fun.
We are not bland people (that's why we bought MINIs) and I think the website should emphasize that fun factor.

just my 2¢.

 

I agree with you all!

I was hoping someone would send me information to be posted on the news section as it has only been updated to reflect this year and 2005. A photo gallery is in the works as is a forum. Moderators are needed first! If there is anything you want to see changed, added, improved, please let me know. But I need particulars not critiques. Thanks in advance!

 

let's have a MCS come flying onto the first web page! Kinda like some flash work or something...who knows, i know nothing of this stuff, just what I see on other pages...i'm a total tard! Maybe some killer MCS stunts!!!! or maybe a hula girl doll bobbing back and forth as some MCS maniac goes driving!


Michelle

 

I also have our new forums online and need some moderators to help get whats needed posted and formatted for our needs. Chris in Raleigh I was hoping you would help. Let me know if you wourld or anyone else.

 

Here's a few suggestions--because yes, you do need to have something that keeps people wanting to come back and check the site.

1) Add a classified section. Include members items for sale, items members are looking for and group buy information for the club.

2) Add more links. Mini USA, BMW USA, the Zentrum, Moss Mini, R Speed, Mini2.com and on. Break it out to show official sites, enthusiast's sites, merchant sites and whatever else.

3) Probably the most important, don't refer folks to the forum for event info. A simple calendar with the event info and contact would be great. Here's an example of how I do it http://www.mybimmer.com/html/schedule-2004.htm . Of course you would want to add the contact info etc.

4) We need photos--I know you all are working on that. Folks love photos.

Cheers,
Debi
http://www.mybimmer.com
http://www/z3homecoming.com

 

Expanding on the calendar of events idea, it would be cool for us Mac people (I'm sure there is something similar in windows world) if we could have that calendar published so the we could subsribe through iCal and get automatic updates.

 

Hey all, I have a friend who is going to be doing some flash site intro work for our website. He is currently working on a website for me for my modeling, so I've seen what he can do. If any has any picture that they would want to see in the flash intro, please email them to me at mlecompte2000@yahoo.com

Rock on!!!

Michelle

 

Here's an example that was knocked together by a friend of mine a couple months ago (hence the "George" context).

http://www.musikhut.com/mini/miniclu...les/index4.htm

This wasn't long in planning or execution, as it only took her about 2 hours to put 4 different ideas together. This is the best one overall, though the others have some interesting elements in them. It's got some room to be tweaked, but it's still infinitely more interesting than what we currently have. Maybe we should have a webpage design contest to see if others out there can express themselves better in pictures than words.

From what I know about website etiquette and search engine design, I'd stay away from the Flash components. They really don't enhance a site as they just increase loading time for slower computers and knock your site out of some search engine parameters.

DebiW posted some good ideas. The calender of events would really be helpful for some people. Pics would be another thing on the "high priority" list.

Again, on a personal note, I don't really see a need for our own site forums. We have a club forum space already on NAM. What's the problem with just linking to and using that space? Wouldn't things be easier when they're consolidated into one area? Why add to the list another site to check to make sure you're abreast of things? As it stands now, you already have to look at NAM, M2, and the owners lounge to make sure you're up to date. Besides, people from other regions may miss one of our events that they would attend if it's only discussed on the club site.

 

Ok a few things have been done today!
A gallery has been installed and given a look "so to speak" of the m2c2.org site. A news blog has been installed so news post can be published to the main page. All submission need to come through me for the time being. The links page has been updated with more than 180 links to various sites.

As for forums heres the skinny:
NAM forum will be used for events only per Richard. If you have issue w/ that speak to him, I could go either way. I do think events need to be posted 1 place and not 3 or more.
Our forum was to be for M2C2 interests/discussions only as not to clog up NAM as we are doing now.

Older events on NAM need to be purged in my opinion and/or locked so new posts can't be submmited to them. That way only current events can be commented on.

I appreciate all the input today, keep it coming!

 

I joined and added some pictures! I had to change my name up, and Trainman, you'll love it! I'm now MiniGothGirl!

I think that he's doing a good job!!!! If he wanted to spice it up, he could ghost in a picture of a MCS or A MC!!!!! nothing out of the ordinary!

Michelle

 

It looks much better. Way to go on the gallery. I'm a big picture fan if you haven't already noticed. Thanks for putting this all together.

Cheers,
Debi

 

All members!
Please send me 1 of your best images for the main page.
TIA

 

I think we need to leave the older messages up and unlocked, as people sometimes add photos of the event afterwards. Maybe that'll change with the new site?

-- Lee

 

I agree but a time limit should be set.

 

Coming from a webdesigner and self-proclaimed webartist, other than my idea of having an actual calendar listing all happenings, I have the following to opine, if I may be so bold, being new and all

First, I've gotta say that as an artist and designer, there is no worse feeling then having someone rip up your work after you've spent countless hours to perfect it. Especially if you're not getting paid to do it and if the comments do not provide very concrete ideas on what could be done differently. After reading everyting here I think I can summarize and hopefully offer some concrete ideas. Before doing that, however, I'd like to say that all the hardwork is definitly appreciated and I'm so glad to be involved in a community where folks are willing to put in their time and talents to create a better environment for us!

With that - based on what I'm hearing, everyone would like to see the site "spiced up." One suggestion was to make a site more like sweetdaisy. To me, that site looks like a PHP site (and I despise PHP sites from an artistic standpoint but totally apprecaite why folks go with PHP). What makes that site is not the design, but that it has lots of fun photos. People just LOVE photos. We're voyeurs at heart. We're also graphic driven, hence the suggestion for some sort of flash design. We could kick around some ideas on what to do for that, I've seen suggestions of a mcs flying in, or a hula girl - my own ideas involve a mini with lights blinking/winking or animating a mini in some way that it looks almost human and winking with a welcome... maybe include a british sounding horn??? Hell i've even contemplated how funny it might be for me to video my remote control mini doing spins on the carpet! lol... Anyway, most importantly have it short and sweet to avoid slow load times and have a button that will allow for skipping the intro. Meanwhile, buttons on the main page could include a mini theme behind them and colorizing a bit with graphics/photos without bogging it down. Another site I saw suggested had big clicky buttons and I wasn't keen on the banner, it didn't look as professional, and of course we want it to be fun yet professional looking. At least I think we'd all like to see that. Of course all of this requires time and commitment so thats up to the desingers. But doing some of this along with applying our collective personalities, photos of events, folks having fun, our cars in fun situations, etc. Also, I think the classified section is a great idea but it would probably require some "pimping" I run a music website and we can't get folks to post stuff on our classifieds to save our lives. Maybe have the forum link actually open a page which the has links to the various forums associated and what they are for? That might be helpful in new folks trying to dig through the different lists associated with the website.

Anyway - those are my thoughts of the moment xoxo Kimmie

 

How about a Calendar Month View type page that has all the events for that particular month. Clicking on the event day links to the appropriate forum/ discussion about that event and to the associated gallaries of the event.

To me this seems like a convenient way to see a schedule (helps with planning so that events don't coincide) and easily let ou get to the pertinent info.

 

Installed that last nite and will be showing that off later today.

 

Great idea. That is what i was thinking of when I was talking about having a Calendar. An actual Calendar with the blocks and all. Something that you can look at at a glance nad get an ideaof what is going on when. Printable woudl be great. But yes, linking in photos and forums would be awesome as well.

Incidentally Audioman - I'm a dope... when you asked me about PHP I should have referred you rigth back to NAM - that too is PHP. When you start looking at a bunch of php sites you'll see what I mean that they all have that same "look" to them ... its hard to explain

Rock on rockers xoxo Kimmie

 

Y'all been busy! So have I, getting our financial records up to date, now that I have the club checkbook.. :smile: We have 5 new members!!

Anyway, I like the look of the example that Moorlockx presented,
I like the calendar, too. The classifieds is an interesting concept, although don't expect me to advertise Oz's original 15" wheels..

The gallery is great! :smile: I just registered and will upload some pictures shortly, but I promise I won't put in my signature picture Y'all see enough of it!
It does need a link to get back to the m2c2 home page though, or have it open in a new window when you click on it.... (I know, right click, open link in new window..)

And minigothgirl, well, that just suits ya!!

 

click on the logo

 

I knew you would get a kick out of my name Trainman!


Michelle

 

as roadodendron's wife I don't read or post here very often, I just looked at the site today because we posted his autox pics in the nice new gallery.

my 2 cents as a web designer and programmer myself - I know what you mean about PHP sites but I am lazy when navigating new sites so I kind of like it that all PHP forums sites, for instance, have the same look. That look comes from the way things are laid out, and if you have used one of those sites, then when you go to another one, it is that much easier to navigate. I'm sure that lazy people like me as well as computer challenged ones appreciate that! I like the design of NAM, it is clean yet has a fun banner & logo. I think the m2c2 site is a great start!