Webmaster's Corner

Webmaster contact:
Email: webmaster@americantopicalassn.org.

Miscellany
The ATA website was profiled in the November 7, 2011, issue of Linn's Stamp News. The review was covered in the "Computers and Stamps" column on pages 28-29.

Recent updates (most recent first)

• January 15, 2012 - Added the first study unit spotlight to the home page, featuring the Judaica Thematic Society. A different study unit will be spotlighted each week.
• January 8, 2012 - Added the first issue of Topical Tidbits to the newly populated youth page. Also added the to the NTSS page.
• January 4, 2012 - Added the press release announcing the Disneyana on Stamps Society. Added information on the Disneyana on Stamps Society to the study units page. Added information on the Ottawa Philatelic Society to the chapters page.
• December 16, 2011 - Added a slideshow of December celebration stamps to the home page.
• November 1, 2011 - Added the press release for the two new DVDs released today. Adjusted the image display on the multimedia page to show a fading slide show of several DVD covers instead of a static display of just two.
• November 1, 2011 - I've begun experimenting with a couple possible CMSes for use on this site. The first task is to see if I can create a theme for the CMS that looks like the current site presentation. So far, it's getting close. When it's ready for beta testing, I'll add the link here.
• October 25, 2011 - The ATA now has a presence on Twitter. Follow @AmerTopical for updates, and watch for the ATA hashtags as noted on our social media page.
• October 25, 2011 - I replaced the static image rotation on the home page with an automatically rotating slideshow script that allows for image-specific captions and links.
• October 25, 2011 - This might not be directly an update to the site, but I created an official Facebook page for the ATA. This is a public page where anyone can choose to Like the organization and get public updates through their Facebook news feeds. Significant updates to this website will be added there as page status updates, and we can use the page to create Facebook events for ATA events (like the NTSS 2012 event) to increase publicity and further promote attendance. One possible update in the future (once we have completed CMS migration) is to have updates to the ATA website automatically populate status updates at the page, directing users back to the ATA site for the complete update. For consistency with the ATA site, the Facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/americantopicalassn.
• October 22, 2011 - I added an A-Z index page. This page is often suggested as a tool to help search engines to crawl websites more efficiently. It is also helpful to site visitors as a way to find something by name rather than trying to figure out where it might be in the site's menu structure.
• October 21, 2011 - I added a search box to the "page not found" error page. The search from that page is restricted to pages within the americantopicalassn.org domain, and the search results are displayed on the same page using the ATA site color scheme for consistency.
• October 21, 2011 - I added this page to convey information on what is happening to the ATA website "behind the scenes." In email discussions about website improvements, it was suggested that I could put more detailed information about site updates on a page somewhere on the ATA website and keep a bit of a journal on site improvements.
• October 21, 2011 - In an effort to make the site at least a little more dynamic, I added a script to the home page that will show a random image of a Halloween-related stamp to go with the ATA's Happy Halloween wishes. This script is small yet customizable enough that there are now plans to use it further on the home page as well as a few other subpages of the site. As it is rolled out to various pages, I'll put a note here.

Potential website upgrades and ideas
Note: Some of the suggestions below may already be in development, but if you have a suggestion to add to the list, please email the webmaster.

• Migrate the site to a complete content management system.
• Work with local venues and attractions where the NTSS will be held in the future to create posts describing additional reasons to attend the show. Posts like this are done by the Federation of Genealogical Societies to promote their annual conference.
• Create a weekly or biweekly spotlight page to highlight a study unit, chapter, checklist or handbook.
  Update (29 Dec): In progress - we're collecting stamp images to use in a spotlight and hope to have it online soon.
  Update (15 Jan): First spotlight launched today.
• Identify premium content for ATA member benefits. This could include additional selected articles from TT back issues, extra content that extends TT articles, a member discussion forum (usually a plugin module in a CMS), videos on topics of inerest, or additional education and mentoring opportunities.
  Noted in the Linn's Stamp News article, the ability to download past Topical Time articles and checklists from the site should be a member benefit; this would fit perfectly into the premium content model I was envisioning.
• Provide an rss feed. This would be included in a CMS.
• Show a blogroll of stamp blogs, possibly highlighting ATA member blogs.
  Update (23 Oct): I tried using Google Reader and their automatic blogroll builder, but this is not quite what I'm thinking of here, and I don't see a way with that tool to disassociate myself as the owner of the list.
• Coordinate an ATA blogging network, perhaps following the model of Geneabloggers.
• Add a search box to the main page. This is also usually included in a CMS.
• Work with NTSS exhibitors and judges to display past exhibits or more information on creating exhibits. Maybe this should be premium member content...
• Promote topical collecting websites through links added to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon or Digg.
• Add information on estate planning resources.
• Poll the ATA membership and website visitors to learn what features they want most. This will help determine the requirements for whatever CMS we decide to use and will help prioritize which enhancements to add next.
• Add photos from ATA events.
• Add guides and suggestions for creating albums for topical collections. This could include software reviews for existing album creation software and/or databases.
• Build a version of the site that is optimized for display on mobile devices such as smart phones. This feature is often offered by CMSes through site theme extensions.
• Allow website visitors to add comments to certain posts, encouraging a dialog between the ATA and collectors worldwide. This feature is included in almost every CMS.
• Update the pages for past events to show more of a recap rather than promoting attendance. This should include photos of event activities and wrapup text listing any awards or special announcements.
• Develop wiki-like pages to produce crowd-sourced checklists. Depending on how this is implemented, a few of these new checklists could be made available to the general public.
• Build a "Name That Topic" game. Visitors would be shown a series of stamp images and would then guess the topic that unites them all. As a corollary, the selection of stamps could also include one that does not belong in the topic and the user would then identify which stamp is out of place in the set. Even better would be to have stamp images uploaded and let users classify them into topics; the page would show one random stamp image, list the topics to which it already belongs and then ask the user to add topics that are missing. This topic assignment page could feed the first two games with data to make it more dynamic.
• Add a "This Day in Topical Philately" item that selects a random anniversary event for the day and shows a related stamp image to go along with it.