website review

[Shinsengumi77]

So I made a simple website for our club to hopefully attract new members (probably a futile effort) or at least provide a little information to the new members we actually get at the beginning of the semester. I'm not tech savvy and don't know a thing about making websites or writing code and what not, so I apologize if it's a bit lackluster, but I thought it'd be nice to have one.

I would like to have some input on what I can do to make it better. Are there any problems you can see? Is there anything that should be added/ taken away?

Also, does anyone know where I might find some royalty free images of a keikogi and hakama? :dead:

Thanks.

(P.S. If there is anyone here who does not want to be mentioned in the site *cough cough* Fox Sensei *cough* -please say so now so I can make the necessary changes).

[Ashura]

I can't find your website.

[b8amack]

You might want to post a link to your website...

[Shinsengumi77]

Wow, I can't believe I forgot to post the link. Sorry 'bout that. It's www.freewebs.com/cmukendo00

[Bokushingu]

three days a week practice--nice.


btw I see the name Shinsengumi all the time in various places...what does it means?

[Shinsengumi77]

The Shinsengumi was a group of samurai fighting in the Meiji restoration on the side of the Tokugawa.

[Shinsengumi77]

If you wanted an actual meaning to the name, it means something like "newly selected corps".

Sorry for the double post.

[Bokushingu]

IC, Thanks ^_^ everytime I meant to ask, i was always distracted.

[Ashura]

A small piece of trivia regarding Shinsengumi:

Shinsengumi can be written as either
新選組
or
新撰組

選 and 撰 can both be read as "era-bu" which means "to choose" as mentioned by Shinsengumi77. I'm not sure about the difference in nuance between the two characters. Members of the Shinsengumi couldn't even decide on which was correct. Isami Kondo himself used them interchangeably.

[b8amack]

Your club is free? (No dues) You should put that in bold, large type! :) And were it me, I would try some offsetting remarks when mentioning the price of bogu, such as a comparison between the price of bogu and say a couple of quality tennis rackets and a pair of court shoes (or football/hockey equipment, a set of golf clubs... whatever; my other game's tennis, so I tend to think of that first). 600 bucks to a grand seems like a lot of cash when it's just a number without context.

Apart from that, it looks like a fine enough website.

[Ashura]

I thought the website was very comprehensive.

[Shinsengumi77]

Thanks Ashura, that makes me feel a bit relieved.

B8amack, thank you for the advice on making a comparison between prices of other types of sports equipment. On that note, do you know some rough estimates on the prices of golf/ hockey/ tennis equipment? Or a good site to look at for such a comparison? I've heard that in hockey for instance, just the skates can run over $500, but I'm not really sure about average prices. What is average for tennis equipment, usually?

[Abramo]

Your website is very good, clean and information is easy to find. I would just make a couple of suggestions:

Add the "address" and precise location of dojo, along with practice times, in the first page below the black link box. That's what most people will want to know, and it's good to have it displayed right off the bat.

Add, somewhere, a link to your local, regional and national federations and a link to a list of other dojo. People from other areas will stumble upon your website and will find it useful, and it will help spread Kendo info around the internet. Mentioning that your yuudansha were graded/registered by these organizations is also a good idea, in this McDojo age of ours.

The most common "concern" of people wanting to join, price aside, is "I'm too old/young" and "I'm a female." Add to your FAQ Kendo's no-age, no-gender restrictions. If you do have age restricitions, add that info too.

In the "equipment" section, the tip of the bokuto is spelled "kissaki".

[Shinsengumi77]

Thank you very much for the suggestions. For now the club is geared more towards CMU students, because we just reserve a room in the school's athletic complex, so I was wondering if the address would be a good idea, since most of the people here know where the building is. I also wanted to keep a separate page for practice times because they change every semester (sometimes our room does too). Would I have to email people for permission to add the Federation links to the site; do you think that's an issue?

I'll add the age/ gender restrictions thing to the FAQ's, too. I didn't even think about that.

And thanks for the spelling correction. And again, does anyone have any idea where I might find the royalty free images for the keikogi and hakama?

[dwez]

I may have missed it, in which case it should be clearer if I have but if you are an AUSKF dojo then you should be on this AUSKF Kendo & Iaido Dojo Google Map. (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117940032963818119200.0004374b9707ddbed5af7&z=3) Now sosb [the originator] is a very trusting guy, he's made it open collaboration and you can put your own marker on this map and then put the map on your site. Just because you're targetting people at CMU doesn't mean you couldn't benefit from the odd visiting experienced kendoka who might want to get directions and drop in.

Additionally if you have alternating times of practice then you should definitely look into either an RSS news feed or something like Google Calendar [that also has RSS capability] this way you can inform people really easily what's going on, so long as they sign up for the feed.

By no means do I think our website (http://www.print-for-you.com/Liverpool_Kendo/kendo.html) is the best but I looked at a whole slew of kendo websites here (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=coolest) to see what was good and although I really love well designed sites, functionality and ease of updating is key. I employed a few gadgets, widgets, doodads and thingumyjigs into a bog-standard template and made it work. Our site could be prettier but the most important thing is to give it value.

That said you've done a bang-up job and anyone putting up a site deserves respect, which I offer to you. Anyone who then asks for a critique and is prepared to act on that advice deserves double respect, so kudo's X 2. Well done and keep it going.

[Shinsengumi77]

I may have missed it, in which case it should be clearer if I have but if you are an AUSKF dojo then you should be on this AUSKF Kendo & Iaido Dojo Google Map. (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117940032963818119200.0004374b9707ddbed5af7&z=3) Now sosb [the originator] is a very trusting guy, he's made it open collaboration and you can put your own marker on this map and then put the map on your site. Just because you're targetting people at CMU doesn't mean you couldn't benefit from the odd visiting experienced kendoka who might want to get directions and drop in.

Additionally if you have alternating times of practice then you should definitely look into either an RSS news feed or something like Google Calendar [that also has RSS capability] this way you can inform people really easily what's going on, so long as they sign up for the feed.

By no means do I think our website (http://www.print-for-you.com/Liverpool_Kendo/kendo.html) is the best but I looked at a whole slew of kendo websites here (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=coolest) to see what was good and although I really love well designed sites, functionality and ease of updating is key. I employed a few gadgets, widgets, doodads and thingumyjigs into a bog-standard template and made it work. Our site could be prettier but the most important thing is to give it value.

That said you've done a bang-up job and anyone putting up a site deserves respect, which I offer to you. Anyone who then asks for a critique and is prepared to act on that advice deserves double respect, so kudo's X 2. Well done and keep it going.

Wow, your site is really nice. I just used some free site creator that uses pre-made templates. It looks like yours and those other websites were made by people who really know what they're doing.

About the AUSKF dojo thing: I don't know if it'd be a good idea to be on that list with only a handful of members (honestly, a grand total of 2 are practicing over the summer...including me). I can't see anyone actually wanting to come and train with us, and frankly I'd be almost embarrassed if they did, because we're so small. We're usually the ones who go and visit other dojo/ clubs. Also, if we don't have a decent number of new members (who stay) this semester I might be forced to dissolve the club, so messing with the AUSKF thing might be a bad idea anyway.

[atgm]

I agree -- displaying the location (or a way to see it) prominently is very important. If I look around on the internet for services in my area, the first thing I usually want to see is the location.

Have you talked to CMU's IT department about getting webspace there? Colleges will generally provide a little webspace for clubs/affiliated groups to use. Nothing fancy, but then again, for a basic site, you don't need all that much.

What kind of pictures of keikogi/hakama were you looking for? I might be able to take some.

[GothMelancolia]

Hello, Shinsengumy77
I have to admit I am a noob when talking about kendo but you may find my review useful.
Your site looks ok; it’s simple and easy to navigate. You use a simple color scheme so it doesn’t bother your reader, and an easy to read text front (the bold thing I found pretty tiring though).
I won't tell you about the quality of the information you displayed here since I am I no position to correct you. But as for the way your site looks like from outside, there are some minor things you may do in order to make your site more noob-friendly
First of all maybe it would be a good idea to display the information about your club before the program, like the second link. If I visualize your site the site from top to bottom I would learn the program before I learn about the club witch I find a little weird.
Second, I agree with the people above, the address or contact information should be seen at first view without to much effort. Also about this, even if people know about your location (students) this doesn’t mean you can't get people outside “Central” to join. So, the location should be more accurate (a map would be a good idea)
Also I would not write a section like “About KCCMU” I would write something like “About us” or “About our club”. Like I said before a noob doesn’t have a clue what KCCMU means so he/she would have to open all the pages in order to find that info. You have to presume that the people are visualizing your website don’t have a clue about kendo or your club so you have to put yourself in their shoes.
I like the FAQ section, just some minor errors :

A: It depends on the person. Some people can get shodan in 2 years, others have taken 6 or more.

I, as a beginner, don’t have a clue what shodan means (so instead of writing shodan maybe you should write something like 1st dan (shodan) or the other way around shodan (1st dan)


A: Usually a practice consists of warming up excercises, suburi (swinging practice), uchikomi geiko (striking practice), kakari geiko (attack practice), and ji geiko (free practice/ sparrin). Occationally we will practice kata, or forms practice, using bokuto (wooden swords).

Italics are spelling mistakes :tongue:. Try to use something like a spelling check function if your editing program has something like this. When writing a text it’s impossible not to make a spelling mistake and those are the most visible things when reading a new text.

Also regarding your text editor if you’re using Microsoft Word try to write the text with Justify it is more reading-friendly.

About the hakama and keikogi images I think those drawings are pretty nice :D. Can’t you make some pictures of your own equipment, or ask one of your friends to help you with this?

Sorry, this post came up pretty long... Hope this helps you. Remember these are only suggestions and if you disagree it’s fine. The overall impression of your website was a good one
Thanks

[dwez]

Wow, your site is really nice. I just used some free site creator that uses pre-made templates. It looks like yours and those other websites were made by people who really know what they're doing.

About the AUSKF dojo thing: I don't know if it'd be a good idea to be on that list with only a handful of members (honestly, a grand total of 2 are practicing over the summer...including me). I can't see anyone actually wanting to come and train with us, and frankly I'd be almost embarrassed if they did, because we're so small. We're usually the ones who go and visit other dojo/ clubs. Also, if we don't have a decent number of new members (who stay) this semester I might be forced to dissolve the club, so messing with the AUSKF thing might be a bad idea anyway.

My sempai used a free template too and then I 'tweaked' it, most of the gadget stuff I've used would be dead easy to implement in your site, especially things like the calendar and maps as google generates the code to drop into your page, simple!

Don't put yourselves down, OK you may be more of a 'study group' than a club with those numbers but if you've got a 3rd and 4th dan instructing why wouldn't folks want to visit you? With 3 practices a week anyone visiting might have opportunity to drop-in. Whenever I have work away from home I always look at one of the kendo google maps to see what's available locally and how it might fit in with my schedule.

Additionally if you're visiting other clubs then they may want to visit you. The same thing goes for website links. Link to your local clubs that you visit and get them to link to your website. Build those bridges and your club can get bigger. This is happening for us in the North West of England. A few kendoka are visiting the 5 or so local clubs and this is allowing greater variety of people to fence and increasing numbers and experience accross the region.

You've made a website, you've done the hard part. You've shown commitment and ambition, it would be a shame to waste it. If you're affiliated put yourself on the map, if the club winds up take it off. At least the map will look like it's being continually updated by members which encourages faith in it's accuracy. It also takes care of people getting directions to you by google generating a route.

[Shinsengumi77]

GothMelancolia and Dwez, thank you both very much for the input. GothMelancolia, I agree completely about everything. I do have a question though, regarding text on the website; The site creator I'm using just allows me to set up content boxes and type in them, so I'm not using Word. Should I just try a different font (and not put it in bold)? I will be correcting the typos and monkeying around on the layout and word choice throughout the site a little bit, to try and make it more helpful to newer members. I really appreciate the input; it can only help.

Dwez, I know it might sound weird, but I guess the reason I feel so embarrassed about other people visiting is just that it seems like we don't have much to offer. I'm just worried that if other people visit it seems like it'd be more for our benefit, and we might not be able to reciprocate, you know? I really want to build up the club a bit first, if possible. I think the worst thing about college clubs without faculty as teachers is that the higher-ranking members always graduate and leave.

[Shinsengumi77]

I agree -- displaying the location (or a way to see it) prominently is very important. If I look around on the internet for services in my area, the first thing I usually want to see is the location.

Have you talked to CMU's IT department about getting webspace there? Colleges will generally provide a little webspace for clubs/affiliated groups to use. Nothing fancy, but then again, for a basic site, you don't need all that much.

What kind of pictures of keikogi/hakama were you looking for? I might be able to take some.

I've looked into it before but A) there are many restrictions in making the site, B) I don't know the first thing about making sites (which is why I used the free site creator thing), and C) We don't have anyone who would make one for us. At least with this setup I can easily modify the pages. About the restrictions, since we're not technically a CMU team, just a student-run body, we have several issues; for one, we can't even legally use the CMU name unless it's in the form of 'something at CMU'.

The pictures I was trying to find are just like the kind you'd see at the online bogu shops, as if the clothes are being modeled to show their functionality. I was just worried about finding royalty free stuff to avoid any problems. I don't have a camera, otherwise I'd just take pics of mine.

Oh, and sorry for the double post.

[Shinsengumi77]

Triple post!!!

-Sorry 'bout that.

I've changed the spelling errors, re-ordered the pages, added location info and a map in the page now labeled "about us";), changed a few of the FAQs' answers to be a bit more 'noob-friendly', and added links to the AUSKF and MWKF on the home page.

[GothMelancolia]

Well I’m glad my input helped
About the front, my teacher in University made us make a project including a webpage (we used templates also) but he made us use Verdana. It really looks ok and you will not have to use Bold.
About the boxes, is it not possible to write the text in Word and then copy/paste in the box (sorry if it is a stupid question)? :D

The map looks cool (satellite view:cool: )

it is more noob-friendly and I hope it will bring you lots of new members ;)
Good luck !!!!