| A Message from the Cyberspace Pursuit Team |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by the Cyberspace Pursuit Team |
|
Welcome to the 2009 Abingdon High School Technology Student Association Website for the Cyberspace Pursuit competition. This website is quite different than years past and we hope to start a new trend in the Technology Student Associations web design ventures. We are currently using the most up-to-date version of Joomla!, one of the most developed open-source content management systems or CMSContent Management Systems are software sets that usually consist of a set of scripts, in Joomla!'s case, PHP, which reside on a server, dynamically connecting to a database and generating webpages on-the-fly. This allows content to be easily and orderly edited, while retaining the ability to change designs and other aspects with much less work from a webmaster. (and we think the best). We have a few topics that we would like to address concerning our solution to the design aspect of the Cyberspace Pursuit Challenge.
Warning: Computer Content! 1. Our CMS Choice:As previously stated, we have chosen the Joomla! Content Management System to administer the new website. We chose Joomla! for many reasons. First and foremost, Joomla!'s community of developers, and therefore its database of extensions, far surpass all other cost-effective solutions. Being open-source, Joomla! and many of its open-source extensions provides support for just about every design, display, and function one could possibly need, and if just the right extension cannot be found in the ever-growing database of thousands, it can be created with a relatively simple programming background. Next, Joomla!'s intuitive templating system is perfectly tailored to our needs, providing both simple functionality and the possibility for customized code with output overrides. Finally, other than the initial setup and designing of the AHSTSA template, this Joomla! website requires less work to actually upkeep, as Joomla! does the organizing for us. 2. Template Width & Accessibility:You may have noticed that the containing space for this web design is a wider fixed-width than traditionally. The 960px containing width will require horizontal-scrolling in some screen resolutions, however less than 8% of computer users remain using screen resolutions smaller than 1024px X 768px. Given the choice between fixed-width and dynamic-width, we chose fixed width out of both personal preference and its ability to portray a structured and professional organization. Finally, we made the decision to force the larger screen resolution; a decision, however, in which we are not alone. Many popular websites are now taking this approach in their design as well. Some well-known examples include MySpace, Facebook, and even the National TSA website. These sites have gained such a large presence on the web, that users are almost forced to upgrade screen resolutions. So, in keeping with the newer standards and ideas of web design, we leave it up to the user to upgrade- providing a better experience for those who already have. Additionally, we have worked to make our site completely mobile compatible by leaving flash objects out of our site design and content (with the exception of our 3D tag cloud, which could not practically be created in any other way). This improves overall accessibility, as- at least currently, no mobile phone or pocket computing devices fully support flash. 3. This Template's Future:This Joomla! template is designed with the eventual goal of either, A.)Becoming the template for the Virginia TSA website, or B.)at least begin the widespread use of Joomla! in TSA chapters and state associations. Many chapter and even state TSA websites remain stuck in the old design and functionality of web 1.0; we believe Joomla! provides the perfect solution. We will make this template available for download under the GPL License after the 2009 National Conference. Finally, just to clarify, our team is composed of four high-school students. All textual content, design, and functionality was written, created, developed or, in the case of script libraries, Joomla! extensions, and such, implemented solely by these individuals. Yours Truly, |