The VFW Post 9473 Web Admin page.

This page documents what is going on with the site: Changes, bugs, errors, updates, etc. Every attempt has been made to make these pages as w3c code compliant as possible. Pages have been tested in multiple browsers (see below). Occasionally they render a little different.

• Do you have a suggestion or comment for our website?
• Did you find something wrong?
• Do you have a question about how something was done on the site?
• Would your organization benefit from a web site like this?
• Have you seen our stats?
• Please let me know!

Contact me:
E-Mail: Howard Jefferson

These are the changes, updates, or events that have occured, broken down by each month (toggle the month on/off):

June 2009

• 30 June 2009
  • Updated two sets of Officers page.
  • Updated scroller.
  • Updated index and master pages
• 22 June 2009
  • With the transistion in progress between officers, not much has happened with the site.
    • I have been playing around with the idea of changing the index page to something a little more "news worthy", please visit index2. Take a look and tell me what you think.
    • Uploaded the July Newsletter .
  • The visits/hits numbers are down for June.
• 1 June 2009
  • Stats for May are in. We got 10001 hits. Less than April, more than March.
  • Officers installation was last month. The official transistion is later this month. I will flip the officers pages then.
  • I am considering moving around the main page a bit. The scroller Should be there, but I think I need to have the news headlines there too.
  • Updated sitemap and Google.

May 2009

• 20 May 2009
  • Did not win the VFW Web Contest. The winner used a prebuilt CMS and still had errors on his pages. Second place did not look as good as this one. I think they need to break it down to regions. Enough said.
  • The June Newsletter is here and on the site. Updated the Newsletter and index pages.
• 16 May 2009
  • Updated the off site Calendar with June event dates, including the yard sale.
  • Corrected a case issues with some words on the site.
  • Added Mike Moehl on the Services page for resume' help. I would like to get other individuals in there.
  • Created an Events Page for up coming events. I beleive this is the best way to put up a poster/flier.
  • Updated the index page and the Newsletter page with a link to the above Events Page.
  • Updated the background image on the 404 error page. It was too big files size wise.
• 14 May 2009
  • Google Webmaster tools indicated that we did not have a 404 error page. Well, I test every page, so there should be no need for it. However, Today we have one, just to keep Google happy. If your wondering about that map it is of a particular test flight center that may or may not exsit in the Nevada Desert.
• 13 May 2009
  • Created a new page:Services.aspx (not to become confused with the service page)
    • This page is titled "Vets Helping Vets" and the story as to why it was created is on the page.
    • The data base behind it is Serve1.mdb and functions similiar to the officer pages.
    • I have sent a message out to all the interested people. Hopefully the word will get out to the rest of the membership
    • Updated master page with the link
    • Updated scroller with a link.
  • Updated gallery page 2 with four more pictures.
  • April hits nearly doubled that of March. May however is not showing the same trend. Hopefully it will improve shortly.
  • Updated some CSS in the layout.css file.
  • Updating xml and sitemap pages.

April 2009

• 28 April 2009
  • Continuing to standardize the look and layout.
    • Changed most H2's over to H1's. H1 tags should be topics and H2 and below are subtopics. Its an SEO thing.
    • Changed some H3's over to H2's for the same reason. The default sizes for these headers require tweaking.
    • Moved some more CSS stuff to the CSS file
  • Created a Privacy Policy page , updated master page to include a link. It is a modified version of the VFW.org site privacy page.
  • Reworked the map contact page again. The right side looks a bit better now.
  • I will have to redo and resubmit the XML sitemap again for Google.
  • Hopefully these changes will get us ranked a bit better in the search engines.
• 27 April 2009
  • Created a Mission Statement page.
  • Updated some text on the index, master, and contact page.
  • We had 12599 hits today. With only a few days left in April, we will have nearly double last months mark.
  • About 22:00 I submitted this site to the 2009 VFW Website Contest
• 26 April 2009
  • Created a robots.txt file and dropped it in the main directory. Hopefully this will get us crawled a bit more and improve our rankings. I find it interesting that several sites that do have links to us do not show up on the google linked search.
  • Updated Sitemap.xml file. Google did not like orginal site.aspx. I had to alter it to remove some pages that should not be visable to the spiders (stats and older pages).
  • Removed pages from the host. They were no longer linked, however a search tool still found them.
  • Updated images for two officers.
  • Linked 2008 and 2009 Officers pages. Once we get into July, I will rename this arrangement.
  • Updated both keyword and description meta tags on index.master page. See the source code for details.
• 24 April 2009
  • I goofed on naming some people in the Mortgage burning gallery. I don't have everyone here memorized yet.
  • May Newsletter is on the site.
  • Adjusted the American Legion Post link on the Branches page.
  • Swapped out old web admin email address for new: webadmin@vfwpost9473.org
    • Eventually will do this for the other officers.
  • Include link to Stats page on the index and this page. We broke 11500 hits as of this morning.
• 21 April 2009
  • Renamed and recreated the gallery pages. Made adjustments in the display area and included captions on the images.
  • Updated some officer images. Most of the officers have been or currently are members of the Color Guard. Need to arrange a sit down photo shoot to get them in their Garrison caps. I don't have a cap, so used my image from the old IEEE site I had at school.
• 19 April 2009
  • Mortgage burning was last night. Created a special gallery for that event. Changed out the link to the announcement on the newsletter page. The pictures, words, and announcement are now linked on the Mortgage Page.
  • Included a few new images in the gallery.
• 15 April 2009
  • Fixed or enabled a few pages. FAQ, VFW_PX, and the Officers page. Removed old version of offcers and Committee pages and substituted the data base version. Created two versions, one for the current officers and one for the incoming officers.
  • Included a few more images in the gallery. The first page is full.
• 12 April 2009
  • After a visit to the Ohio VFW gallery Page, I have updated our Gallery pages including activating the second page. A third page has been copied and is ready to use as soon as I get the second page filled up.
  • Updated Canteen page, it has an image now.
  • Added more images to the Banquet hall gallery
  • Tweaked index and master pages spacing.
  • Tweaked this page margin spacing.
• 11 April 2009
  • Ran a series of web based spell checkers against site. Found single spelling errors on a few of the main pages. Most of the other errors were on this page. Go figure.
    • Fixed.
  • Included a few new images in the gallery. The first page is full.
• 9 April 2009
  • Swapped out gallery.aspx after adding new images to gallerytest3.aspx for the new gallery page. Removed most of the car images and inactivated gallerytest3b for the time being.
  • Sought out bids for a vinyl banner for the VFW.
• 5 April 2009
  • Consolidated the four CSS files into one (layout.css).
  • A CSS file (or something) changed some of the pages.
    • Fixed those bugs.
  • Began moving Styles to the CSS file. As this progresses, all the pages will become more uniformed in appearances.
  • Ran W3C CSS Validations over all pages. Found and corrected some more issues.
  • Ran W3C Line Checker over all pages. Found and corrected several minor "broken link" issues. It also pointed out which sites redirect. Very useful.
    • Site Map, again, had unresolved problems. W3C Line Checker does not like the ASP web.sitemap code.
  • News Reader was off line again. I think one of the services was conducting maintenance.
• 4 April 2009
  • Ran validations over all pages, Four pages will not validate correctly:
    • Site Map (Site map XML does not validate with TIDY, will research.
    • VFW News feed (Randi, has passed it on to her IT people).
    • The two google based maps (Post directions & VA Hospital maps). The problem is on Googles end. Researching a way of fixing.
  • Consolidated the Branches and Links page, removed link borders around branch logos.
  • Enabled the FAQ and VFW PX pages. They still need to be reviewed.
  • Re-organized the Navigation Bar, including giving the map and FAQ their own columns
  • News feed page rebuilt, now with two more feeds, from the VA.
  • Optimized as many images on site as possible. Removed 'excluded' files.
• 3 April 2009
  • Changed out banquet hall images for smaller and better versions.
• 2 April 2009
  • News feed "warning" error from VFW.org identified, sent Randi Law email. Changed template of news feed to remove second warning item.
• 1 April 2009
  • Updated some small stuff.
  • Included April tag (this page).

March 2009

• 31 March 2009
  • Website received 7800 hits for the month, nearly 3000 more than February.
  • This page was getting a bit "big". Altered with collapsing/expanding blocks.
  • Fixed some 'unordered list issues'
  • Revalidated pages. All issues encountered (contact & news feed pages) are from the source sites.
• 26 March 2009
  • Fixed April Newsletter link.
  • Uploaded, without links, FAQ and PX pages. Sent links out to Officers for review.
• 25 March 2009
  • Posted "Burn the Mortgage" party notice.
  • Up loaded April Newsletter.
• 17 March 2009
  • Received request for membership via email from site.
  • Based on earlier complaint, and membership request,  Began creation of an FAQ.
  • Began creation of Post-Exchange page.
• 15 March 2009
  • Updated Calendar.
  • Included new links to RAO bulletin.
• 13 March 2009
  • Website received by this date an equal amount of hits as it had in all of February.
• 12 March 2009
  • Received direct "evidence" that people are looking at website. Forwarded email to leadership.
• 11 March 2009
  • Not website related, but made contact with other sites to have links included back to us.
• 8 March, 2009
  • Page error occurred (possibly server side issues).
    • Problem went away.
• 7 March 2009
  • Updated Service Officer page.
  • Created VA Map pages (linked from the Service Officer Page). This map shows key VA facilities in the Columbus metro area.
  • Updated some of the Newsletter pages.
• 6 March 2009
  • Re-Validated pages. Some of the pages have 'phantom code' that I can not find or clean up.
  • • Officers page - an input view state dialog that is not present on master or officers page. Traces to an axd file that I have no access to. This page will be rebuilt after elections.
    • MapContact (from Google) and Feeds (from VFW.org) page - errors generated by sources outside of site. Visual Studio complains in test mode about the Google map issues, and HTML Tidy verifies this. The VFW news feed has some poorly formed elements.
  • Updated site map, Web Admin Page Updated site map, Web Admin Page (EAWS wings, etc).
  • Updated logos for PNG images. Included new logo's on most pages.
  • Updated Newsletter pages with 2008 pdf files from Faye. Removed Buckeye Triumph PDF's. Included a link to the BT site, in part for their help.
  • Received images from LeRoy and will start inserting them into gallery.
• 5 March 2009
  • Inserted Service officer page. Content is from National VFW site. Need to get local content from Mike.
  • Updated the News reader,removed some information, and changed font style.
  • Posted updated Mens Aux page. Some content might need to be reviewed. to be reviewed.
  • Included a jquery scroller on the Index page. It echos the standing calendar events. The Ipso Lorem stuff is for fill content. Once the site is reviewed, these will be done away with.
  • updated layout.css file to aid the scroller.
• 4 March 2009
  • Spoke with member at the VFW Post about some changes.
  • Updated Color Guard roster on Color Guard Page.
  • Spoke to VFW members at Post: Updating Mens Aux page.
  • Creating Service Officer page to have critical info available.
  • • Need information from Mike
• 1 March 2009
  • Created Test Gallery 1 and uploaded.
  • • Worked well on server. Good Comments back.
  • Created Test Gallery 2, Uploaded.
  • • Did not work on server, masterpage conflict.
    • Deleted.
  • Created Test Gallery 3 and uploaded.
  • •  incorporated two pages and mouse over function.
    • Good to go. This will be the template for the actual Gallery when content arrives.
    • Squished auto images will be removed.
  • Dealt with some odd 404 errors.
  • • Changed work flow method to minimize cross over errors.

February 2009

• 27 February 2009:
  • Updated Post Commander message.
  • Renamed WomenAux.aspx to LadiesAux.aspx.
  • Included links to American Legion Post 283, area Veterans Services, & Ohio Dept of Vets.
  • Banquet Hall content updated, with new special gallery pages (2 panoramic images).
  • Updated Website Sitemap.
  • Replaced M47 image
  • Armed Forces Branches Logos added to Branches Page.
  • 1 image applied to Gallery Page.
  • Two more typo's.
• 25 February 2009:
  • Included Jquery scripting to round corners.
  • Corrected some <div> issues on a couple pages.
  • Altered the color on the content pages.
  • Included a Favicon symbol in code (look at the address bar).
  • Updated text for Banquet hall.
  • Canteen information updated. <div> issues there too.
• 23 February 2009:
  • Began w3c validation, and corrections of code.
  • Table on Ladies Auxiliary had TD tags without closing.
  • Font on cover page was not 'PX'ed'.
  • Officer and Committee pages had table tag issues.
    • All corrected.
• 21 February 2009:
  • Next major revision, several typo's and page additions.
• 18 February 2009:
  • Ladies Auxiliary pages reworked.
• 15 February 2009:
  • Upload with some information.
  • First test of site on server. Server not configured to run ASP.NET.
    • Corrected.
• 10 February 2009: Demonstration of site to VFW members at Post meeting.