The current format of the website under the new website team led by Webmaster Tom Kopke within the Communications Committee was launched a little more than a year ago. There have been numerous improvements and additions and popularity of the website has doubled since a year ago. Information on the site is now the latest available and sometimes the only place where it can be obtained. Some of these improvements can directly help clubs yet most are unaware of how the JCNA website can help besides having some documentation available on-line. More features and documentation are planned for the website. Hopefully, this review will help you see what the website has to offer.

Highlights of new additions that have been added in the past year.

• Individual Club Information
• Classified Listings by Club Contributions (A way for a club to make money!)
• Competition Results and Interim Standings
• JCNA Rules and Documentation
• Features and News Stories
• On-line Help for Club Editors and Webmasters
• JCNA Issues Forum
• General Information and Statistics

Individual Club Information

Each club now directly controls the information on the JCNA website about their club. The webmaster no longer controls these pages. A special password protected page allows each club to update and modify their listing at any time. There is even space to promote an upcoming event or to tell a bit about the club. Given the increased traffic on the website, prospective members seek out the club locations to possibly join a local chapter. The individual club descriptive pages is the club's first impression to the prospective new member. Most clubs have taken advantage of this but there are still a few, after a whole year, that have not requested access! Contact your club officers if your club hasn't taken advantage of this website feature. (for access information, see http://www.jcna.com/members/clubedits/index.html)

Classified Listings by Club Contributions (help your club make free money!)

One of the best kept secrets of the site is the classified listings page. It is the most visited page of the website and many subscribe to the listing to receive updates whenever a new listing is posted. Thousands visit the listings page each month! However, only clubs can post a new listing! JCNA does not accept new listings for posting from individuals. Clubs assign a representative to handle all posting from their club to the JCNA classified listings page. Individuals then would submit an ad via the club and the representative would post it. Clubs post for free but may charge any amount they want to the individual ad submitter. Most charge around $10 an ad. It's an easy way for a club to make money. (for more information, see http://www.jcna.com/classifieds/help.html for general classifieds help and http://www.jcna.com/classifieds/passwords.html for access registration)

Competition Results and Interim Standings

For the first time, individual event results and interim standing have been made available on the website. It is the third most popular page on the website. The process to make this happen did have some growing pains. Everything from incomplete forms to rampant misspellings and incorrect scores quickly revealed how difficult the job was for each of the competition chairs. For the first time it allows entrants to see if their own score was recorded correctly and how they measured up to the competition across the continent. Errors could now be found and corrected in time to insure the proper recognition to top entrants was given. Hopefully, an improved process for submitting event results will be approved to streamline this for 2002. (for the current listing of event results as provided to the website team, see http://www.jcna.com/standings/)

JCNA Rules and Documentation

This is where the website really shines. The latest documents and forms can be found on the website. Competition rules, forms, JCNA administrative documentation can be found in the Library (http://www.jcna.com/library/). In many cases, they are more current than what can be obtained elsewhere. Since the webmaster is also the Concours rulebook editor, the latest version of the rulebook is available only from the website. In the future, all clubs will be directed to the website for the latest version of all JCNA documentation. More documentation is being made available on a continual basis for posting on the website. However, conversion can sometimes cause interesting problems to make documents accessible by everyone.

Features and News Stories

The website now boasts over 30 feature articles ranging from news to general Jaguar interests. Frequently, these stories rank in the top 10 most popular pages visited for any given month. Sources come from both JCNA members and sponsors. Original articles are always welcome for possible publication on the website. One area that is terribly underutilized is club news. Several people have written the webmaster requesting more club news be on the website. It would be posted if it were provided by the clubs. It's free and is another way to promote your club to the many thousands that visit the JCNA website each month. (for submission information, see http://www.jcna.com/library/submit_info.html)

On-line Help for Club Editors and Webmasters

Another underutilized feature of the website is the help available to newsletter editors and webmasters. A resource page for webmasters, both new and experienced, is available on the website (http://www.jcna.com/library/webmasters/). A similar one for newsletter editors is planned. It also includes a forum that is frequented by several seasoned veterans of both websites and newsletter publications so that you can ask questions. Because respondents will be JCNA members, replies will be more applicable to JCNA editors and webmasters. No question is too simple to be asked. When one doesn't know the answer, the question is no longer simple. (for the editor/webmaster forum, see http://www.jcna.com/forums/edweb/)

JCNA Issues Forum

New to the website in 2001 was the introduction of the JCNA Issues forum. It has grown to be the second most visited page on the website. For technical and general discussions, a list of links to club sites with forums is provided on the website. The intent of the issues forum was to have an area to discuss aspects of JCNA life in both reviewing existing rules and documentation and to discuss prospective changes to any aspect of JCNA. This will allow members, including board and committee chairs, to test the waters of a possible proposal or to refine a proposal prior to formally submitting it at a meeting. It also allows members to ask questions about JCNA or to simply ask "who to ask?". The forum is under current revision of posting rules such that posts focus more on constructive criticisms and discussions. This was the original intent of the Issues Forum. (see http://www.jcna.com/forums/jcna.cgi)

General Information and Statistics

We can only post information we have in hand. Though posted on the website, some content is the responsibility of specific chairs within the organization. If a simple error such as spelling is found, the webmaster can fix it. However, if there are errors in content, then the respective chair is responsible for providing changes to the website. They should be contacted first for any noted errors. As a general rule, the webmaster does not write content for this website except in special circumstances such as writing the help file for the forum pages.

Most Visited Day - September 19, 2001 Most Visited Month - August
What the JCNA Website Visitor Uses (Top 5)
Most Popular Browsers MS Internet Explorer v5 Netscape Navigator v4 MS Internet Explorer v6 MS Internet Explorer v4 AOL's Browser v6	Most Popular Operating Systems Windows 98 Windows 2000 Windows 95 MacOS (PowerPC) Windows NT

Posted: 1/2002