| Website options: Tips for nonprofits | |
| Last update: 07/26/2009 | By Marilyn Bakker, still learning |
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Because I've been maintaining websites for nonprofits for many
years, I'm sometimes asked for advice on how to get a web presence.
Here are some hints based on my own limited experience. |
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The World Wide Web |
| The term World Wide Web (www) defines the network of web servers that hold and "serve up" websites. A website is a collection of interlinked computer files. Web pages are written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Web browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer or Firefox) understand that language. When you give your browser a web address, it connects with the server computer that downloads the website files to your computer . | |
 There
are zillions of server computers on the web. This page resides in the www.techforecast.com domain on a web-host's server in Canada. |
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 Personal
computer (PC) with installed browser software |
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If
you visit a static website (like this one), you can view, but
not change, the content. |
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If
you visit a dynamic website with web-based applications, you
can contribute content. From any PC with a browser, you can create a dynamic website, put your photos on a photo-sharing site, order a book, comment on a blog, engage in social networking. |
 What's
on this page |
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| PC-based static websites, installed software | Web-presence options, my experience |
| Web-based static websites | Dynamic blogs |
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The webmaster's PC
has installed web-authoring software. Files that comprise
a full-featured website are created here and uploaded to a web server.
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A
web-host's server is a big computer that holds files (html web
pages, photos, etc.) that can be "served up" to
viewers via a web browser. |
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There's an intimate relationship between the webmaster's PC and
the web-host's server. |
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What
is a file? A file is a piece of work created by a software. Web pages (like this one) are HTM files that use Hypertext Markup Language (html) code to tell a web browser what to display on the computer screen. A web page contains hyperlinks to other HTM files and to other kinds of files -- like JPG photo files created on a digital camera. The images on this page are GIF files. |
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| Note: Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) files are extremely useful on the Web. A full-featured website provides them easily, but some alternatives don't. See web-presence options, below. | |
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What
is a webmaster? Managing a full-featured website is a one-person job. Webmaster is the name for the person who does it, with web-authoring software. |
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What's
web-authoring software? Web-authoring software makes web-page creation easy -- but beyond that, it helps manage the dozens (perhaps hundreds) of files on a full-featured website and the hyperlinks that link them together. I still use Microsoft FrontPage, not their newer product Expression Web. Another popular product is Dreamweaver. |
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| The
Friends of Sherwood
Island have a big website comprised of 722 files housed on my PC
and on the web server. Many of the files are photos-jpg files exhibited on pages like this one. |
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| Note: My websites are simple. My skills are no more than average. | |
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What
are the pros and cons of PC-based websites? They offer unlimited design possibilities, but there are two disadvantages: (1) They cost money. At a minimum, the cost of a domain name and web hosting. And maybe a paid webmaster. (2) Dependence on the webmaster. If your nonprofit doesn't have a volunteer webmaster, the cost of hiring a professional can be very high. And the timing of site changes depends on the webmaster's availability. |
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Are
there any other options? Nonprofits can eliminate or minimize their dependence on a webmaster by using web-based services. Web-based work can be done on a remote server, by anyone authorized, from anywhere. See examples below. |
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| Examples, my sites | PC-based | Web-based | ||
| Website | Website | Blog | Photos | |
| Lifetime Learners Institute (LLI) | www.lifetimelearners.org |
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| Friends of Sherwood Island | www.friendsofsherwoodisland.org |
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| Norwalk Tree Alliance (NTA) * | See note below |
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| League of Women Voters | www.lwvwestportct.org | -- | -- | |
| Westport Septa | www.westportsepta.org | -- | -- | -- |
| Y's Women | Google site | |||
| * Norwalk Tree Alliance has switched from a webmaster-managed full-featured website to a blog managed by NTA volunteers, who also manage their photos at Flickr. The domain name www.norwalktreealliance.org was transferred to their Blogger blog. |
| Orgsites. Attractive free websites for nonprofits, with some design limitations. Relatively easy to manage. See experimental NTA example above. Major limitation: you can't use your own domain name. |
| Google sites. The Y's Women Google site was created for just one purpose: to house a PDF file of the membership form. Blogger doesn't allow file uploading. (See Google free sites below) |
 Web-based
static
websites |
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| Paid sites | |
| Especially for small businesses, many web hosts sell packages that include hosting, domain registration, and site-builder software. Examples: Network Solutions - Homestead - StartLogic. You can do limited design work on the web, or for greater flexibility you can download and install the host's software on your own PC. See a cautionary article. | |
| Ad-supported sites | |
| Example:
Yahoo Geocities.
Long-established and very popular ... but I don't use this
service. I find the Page Builder tool hard to work
with, and PDF file uploading is not possible. See my
experimental site.
Update: Geocities is closing October 26, 2009. As a replacement, Yahoo is offering web hosting for $4.99/month with free domain name, design tools and third-party web-authoring, and 24 hour toll-free support. |
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| Free sites | |
| Google. The Google Page Creator, which included templates and hosting, is being phased out. Its replacement, Google Sites, seems to be geared toward corporate collaboration. | |
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Microsoft Office Live
Small Business. Among many services for small businesses, Microsoft provides free do-it-yourself websites. For experimental purposes, I signed up and began working on this website: www.techforecast.org If you sign up, you can also get your own domain name, free for a year. This looks like a very good option for nonprofits. Reviews. |
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Dynamic
blogs - free and easy |
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| Blog is short for
web log -- a way for ordinary people to
post their thoughts online. Blogs have two main characteristics: (1) They are designed for daily dated entries: today's post goes to the top of the page, and yesterday's post moves down. Older posts eventually move off the main page into an archive. (2) They invite comments from visitors. But comments can also be prohibited. Compared to a static website, design possibilities are very limited; but with some workarounds, they can be rather elaborate. For a sampling of how blogs can be used, take a look at the Blogger's Choice Awards. |
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| The big prominent bloggers use installed blogging software, but ordinary people prefer to blog on the web. That way, they can post items from any computer, anywhere, and (if allowed) readers can post their own comments. | ||||||||||||
| The web-based blogging world is dominated by two providers: Blogger (owned by Google) and Wordpress. | ||||||||||||
| Two kinds of Wordpress. The original uses open-source blogging software available at wordpress.org. Later came a much easier hosted version of the software: wordpress.com. | ||||||||||||
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Domain name The web address (URL) of a typical Blogger blog is: yourname.blogspot.com The web address (URL) of a typical Wordpress blog is: yourname.wordpress.com Blogger will host your blog under your own domain name: www.yourname.org. Example: The Y's Women website (www.yswomen.org) is a Blogger blog. Wordpress will also host your blog under your own domain name. Example: Friends of the Westport Senior Center. |
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| PDF-file
uploading - Wordpress wins Most nonprofits want to make one or more PDF files available online (e.g. a membership form). Blogger allows uploading of image files only. Other kinds of files must be stored on a different hosting site. Wordpress allows file uploading. Example: The link to membership form on the Y's Women Blogger blog is a link to the form on a separate Google site. Example: On the right side of the LLI announcements blog under Pages, the film discussion items include links to on-site PDF files of the movie schedules. Static content - Wordpress wins The nature of a blog is that a new post appears at the top of the page, pushing older posts down. Wordpress provides sticky posts and static pages. Blogger. At www.yswomen.org, the post titled Y's Women Photos ... must always be on top. But the only way to accomplish that is to continually post-date the post without making the date look absurdly too far ahead. Wordpress. At www.friendsoftheseniorcenter.org the "Who we are" post is a sticky post that stays in position. And it also has static pages that are listed in the right sidebar and in this particular theme, across the top of the page as well. |
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