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These changes have been simmering for over a year. Tanya, with your consent I'll break this list down for Jonesy and Liz to get them started. Per Ryan Jones: When the GPCO transitioned to the new website, some of the old organizational structure that was carried over didn't pertain to the new website. I have some suggestions that would make the website easier to navigate.. These are just suggestions and I hope they are improved and built upon with further discussion. The current website navigation bar reads | Home | About GPCO | News | Chapters | Get Involved | Events | Join/Donate | Platform | Blog | Contacts |. Some of these items have several sub items that appear when the mouse hoversover the item. About GPCO has quite a few. I will spare you from listing all of the current sub items. I propose that we change the navigation bar items to read | Home | About GPCO | Get Involved | Chapters | Contact | Donate | I will organize my suggestions below by the navbar link, the description of sub items of each link, and the content of each page. The bold underlined item is the navbar link and the indented bold items are the sub items that appear when the mouse hovers over the navbar item. HomeThis is just a link to the home page. We may want to make the GPCO image at the top of thescreen a clickable image linking to the homepage. This is not a priority. About GPCOThis links to the "About" page. The title of this page should say "About the GPCO" instead of what it currently says, "About GPOC". I think the body of text on this page could use some re-writing to pertain more to the Green Party of Colorado. HistoryThe current history page is in pretty good shape. I like the detailed timeline. I would remove the paragraph about instructions on forming a local. There are better places for this. Public Office HoldersThis page exists and should continue to. While the history section does list our victories, it is hard to separate our candidates from the GPCO officers. It is also hard to tell if their run was successful from the history page. I think we should break thispage up into current and past elected officials with dates. We should also put a link to this page on the History page. GPCO StructureCurrently, "About GPCO" lists the following sub items: Board Members & Contacts, Bylaws, Procedures & Guidelines, and Financials. The sub items Council Proposals and Committees are currentlylisted under the News and Get Involved navbar links respectively. All of these sub items mentioned should be merged into one page. This is the GPCO Structure page.. The easy thing to do would be to just create this page and put links to all these pages on it. It would be nice to someday have a description and perhaps a diagram of how the GPCO is organized. This could be added later though. Resolutions and Position StatementsThis link currently is "GPCO Resolutions". I would be fine with keeping this title but I feel that "Position Statements" adds a meaningful description. We should add items like our endorsement of Occupy and such. The GPCO has issued several endorsements and position statements and I wish it was something that was done more often. It is a great way for visitors to see what the GPCO stands behind. Get InvolvedThis area could use a lot of content. I won't get into that now but I think there is a lot of potential. Register GreenThis sounds better than the current "Voter Registration" sub item. E-ListsI think this page can stay for now. I do think the section about how to get on the Council listerv should be removed. It instructs people to contact Claire Ryder. This info really doesn't need to bethere. Any local that is forming can get instructions on how to join the council listserv by contacting the Co-Chairs. EventsWe should move the"Events" navbar item here. ChaptersThis page is pretty good as it is. I have a couple of suggestions. The State and Local links are a little bit confusing. I guess "State" is supposed to be a page on the GPCO website about the local, and "Local" is a link to the locals website. We could just make the name of the local link to the GPCO page about the local and have a "Website" link instead of a "Local" link. I think the Forming aLocal Party paragraph is a great thing to have here. I would recommend adding instructions for contacting the co-chairs when forming a local. Under the Current "Events" navbar link there is sub item for "Chapter Meetings". I think it would make sense to do away with the Chapter Meetings page and just put this information on the Chapters page. ContactThis currently says contacts. I think it should say Contact.. I prefer the verb tothe plural noun. I would like to change this page to more of a "this is how you get in touch with the GPCO" rather than just a listing of officers. It would be very helpful to add a paragraph that explains reasons for contacting the GPCO. Something like, "If you have any questions or are interested in starting a local of the GPCO, contact the co-chairs. You can get in touch with the GPCO local in your area by visiting our Chapters page." Right now it is a little bit intimidating because it is a somewhat long list of official positions. Someone may not know who to begin with. I also think that the State representatives and the GPCO Council facilitator should be listed on GPCO structure page. We have to remember that people visiting the contact page are probably not already involved with the GPCO. DonateThis is arguably the most important page of the whole website. It is usually the last link on the navbar for easy access. It is also sometimes highlighted. We should make it stand out.
Once again, I thank both Bill and Jonesy for working on this and I apologize for dragging my feet a little. It looks like the rest of the website committee is fine with us taking the task on. I really will get this read within a couple more days and give you my input. Then, you will be ready to work with Liz to get it done. Thanks for being patient for my feedback. Tanya
Hi, Jonesy and Bill,Here are my comments to your proposals for the website:I propose that we change the navigation bar items to read | Home | About GPCO | Get Involved | Chapters | Contact | Donate | -I AGREE except for About GPCO. I think it should be "About the Greens" or "Colorado Greens" or "Meet the Greens" or "Meet the Green Party" or "Who we are" something else. I just don't like the acronym GPCO because it is so vague and unemotional and not inspiring or something to feel connected to. Some companies just put "About Us" or some parties put "Learn" or "Learn More" so it doesn't really have to say Colorado or CO in it because people know they are on the Colorado Green Party website already and when they get to each menu item or section, they will read about Colorado Greens, not the national greens. HomeThis is just a link to the home page. We may want to make the GPCO image at the top of the screen a clickable image linking to the homepage. This is not a priority. - I AGREE that the Image should be a clickable Link to the Home page, but also think we should keep Home in the navbar. About GPCOThis links to the "About" page. The title of this page should say "About the GPCO" instead of what it currently says, "About GPOC". I think the body of text on this page could use some re-writing to pertain more to the Green Party of Colorado. (see above for my issue with GPCO and suggestion for different heading) HistoryThe current history page is in pretty good shape. I like the detailed timeline. I would remove the paragraph about instructions on forming a local. There are better places for this. -I AGREE Public Office HoldersThis page exists and should continue to. While the history section does list our victories, it is hard to separate our candidates from the GPCO officers. It is also hard to tell if their run was successful from the history page. I think we should break thispage up into current and past elected officials with dates. We should also put a link to this page on the History page. -I AGREE GPCO StructureCurrently, "About GPCO" lists the following sub items: Board Members & Contacts, Bylaws, Procedures & Guidelines, and Financials. The sub items Council Proposals and Committees are currentlylisted under the News and Get Involved navbar links respectively. All of these sub items mentioned should be merged into one page. This is the GPCO Structure page.. The easy thing to do would be to just create this page and put links to all these pages on it. It would be nice to someday have a description and perhaps a diagram of how the GPCO is organized. This could be added later though. -I don't like the GPCO Structure title; could it be "Party Organization" or something else? Or actually it seems like these should be revised into two different menu items with some info moved to other website pages (i.e. contacts) as follows:1 new menu heading- State Officers (use Board Members & Contacts) and I would take off the contact info from this page as it will be on the contact page. In place of contact info, you could put photos of each person plus a very brief bio (40-70 words) or a link to a less brief bio (150-250 words) plus you could add a couple paragraphs about state officer terms and some relevant info from the bylaws or P&G to help website visitors and prospective state officer candidates see details about what officers are/do.2 new menu heading: Bylaws & Procedures (Bylaws, Procedures & Guidelines) only,Then, I think Financials should go at the bottom of the History page or mixed in with the history so for example: years with officers first, state meeting minutes second, and Financials last for each year (2011-2012 etc).This is probably a good time to explain that I think we have to make our procedures and rules more easily accessible to people who are looking for info about specific roles/ways to get involved. Right now, we always refer people to the bylaws or the P&G which are such long documents and you have to search through them to find specific info. It would be more helpful of us if we created pages/downloadable info sheets about specific items such as: State Officers (duties, terms and qualifications), Public Office Candidates (qualifications, process, timelines, etc.), New Chapters (how to begin, who can do it, how to find support, requirements for approval by state, etc.). Resolutions and Position StatementsThis link currently is "GPCO Resolutions". I would be fine with keeping this title but I feel that "Position Statements" adds a meaningful description. We should add items like our endorsement of Occupy and such. The GPCO has issued several endorsements and position statements and I wish it was something that was done more often. It is a great way for visitors to see what the GPCO stands behind. -I AGREE or Platform or Political Platforms but whatever you think is most understandable. Get InvolvedThis area could use a lot of content. I won't get into that now but I think there is a lot of potential. Register GreenThis sounds better than the current "Voter Registration" sub item. -I AGREE E-ListsI think this page can stay for now. I do think the section about how to get on the Council listerv should be removed. It instructs people to contact Claire Ryder. This info really doesn't need to be there. Any local that is forming can get instructions on how to join the council listserv by contacting the Co-Chairs. -This page will need to be changed to "Forums" as soon as possible and describe and have links to the various forum participation opportunities. For example, it would start with how to join a discussion forum, and then how to observe state council forum activities, and how to become a state online council/forum voting member, etc. I also think this should have a subheading/drop down menu item for "Join a Chapter" and that page would link back to the Local Chapters pages but have more details on how to find your chapter and what it takes to join chapter activities and what to do if no chapter exists in your area. EventsWe should move the "Events" navbar item here. - I AGREE ChaptersThis page is pretty good as it is. I have a couple of suggestions. The State and Local links are a little bit confusing. I guess "State" is supposed to be a page on the GPCO website about the local, and "Local" is a link to the locals website. We could just make the name of the local link to the GPCO page about the local and have a "Website" link instead of a "Local" link. I think the Forming aLocal Party paragraph is a great thing to have here. I would recommend adding instructions for contacting the co-chairs when forming a local. Under the Current "Events" navbar link there is sub item for "Chapter Meetings". I think it would make sense to do away with the Chapter Meetings page and just put this information on the Chapters page. - I AGREE with all of these chapter suggestions. ContactThis currently says contacts. I think it should say Contact.. I prefer the verb to the plural noun. -Actually "Contact" is still a noun though it could be a verb but it is unclear with just the one word. If we want it more active, it should probably be "Contact us" (just like Get Involved).I would like to change this page to more of a "this is how you get in touch with the GPCO" rather than just a listing of officers. It would be very helpful to add a paragraph that explains reasons for contacting the GPCO. Something like, "If you have any questions or are interested in starting a local of the GPCO, contact the co-chairs. You can get in touch with the GPCO local in your area by visiting our Chapters page." Right now it is a little bit intimidating because it is a somewhat long list of official positions. Someone may not know who to begin with. I also think that the State representatives and the GPCO Council facilitator should be listed on GPCO structure page. We have to remember that people visiting the contact page are probably not already involved with the GPCO. -I AGREE that sentences describing who to contact for what would be more useful, but probably all the current contacts need to remain there for some reason or another, just better identified. For example, we should also list who is the media contact (co-chairs for now). DonateThis is arguably the most important page of the whole website. It is usually the last link on the navbar for easy access. It is also sometimes highlighted. We should make it stand out. - I AGREE. We also have to think about where Green merchandise can be located. Would it be a second dropdown menu item under donate? Or would it be under Get Involved or where? Kevin has been wanting this link for a while. And, my chapter members were recently asking how to get GPCO paraphenalia so it would be good to finally add our Colorado Green Store (which would also be needed if we sell that ebook that Eric proposed at the state meeting).I also like this from the Libertarian site and think it could go under Get Involved or Who we are: http://lpcolorado.org/learn/am-i-libertarian/http://www.theadvocates.org/quizPlus I think we need to have some links on our site to the League of Women Voters and VoteSmart websites that help people figure out which political districts they are in and which offices are in those districts and when the elections are. Our chapter members have no idea about these matters and keep talking about researching it. It is slowing us down, so it would be great to have those links to help people figure those out. They would probably be under the Get Involved section under new dropdown menu items such as "Support a Candidate" and "Run in an election" or "Become a Candidate" and "Get appointed to office" (this last one would explain about how there are so many opportunities for Greens to get appointed to local, state and regional boards, commissions, etc. and begin their political career or at least contribute their Green perspective to local and state government without seeking election).Finally, I think all the suggested links above to the website would increase SEO of the site and we would rank higher in web searches with different engines.That's my input. As I mentioned before, I have limited time so can't help implement most, especially coordinating with Liz to make nav bar and menu changes. But, if you let me know when you need a page revised or written and either send me the current page or the description of which page I will work on, I can help with those and usually get each done within a week.Let me know what you think of my ideas and comments.Tanya
Thank you for your detailed feedback Tanya! I agree with all of your points, although I think we will have to do something special for the Forum link until we are ready to bring the public into it. I especially like the idea of adding links to the League of Women Voters and VoteSmart, and even sites like OpenSecrets and OpenCongress. I'll orchestrate the changes between Jonesy and Liz and myself as much as possible. I am intrigued about some new merch but that's a topic for another thread... 😉
Tanya,Great input. I know my reply is lengthy but a good portion of it is quoted text that you can skim over. I tried to italicize my original text that you quoted. I think we are mostly in agreement except for the information on the "Party Structure" and "Contact Us" pages. If you could, can you please put the most priority into reading my concerns that I wrote under your quoted text of "GPCO Structure"? I think we are close to an agreement on this and I am willing to be very flexible, I just want to be sure my concerns are considered.
-I AGREE except for About GPCO. I think it should be "About the Greens" or "Colorado Greens" or "Meet the Greens" or "Meet the Green Party" or "Who we are" something else. I just don't like the acronym GPCO because it is so vague and unemotional and not inspiring or something to feel connected to. Some companies just put "About Us" or some parties put "Learn" or "Learn More" so it doesn't really have to say Colorado or CO in it because people know they are on the Colorado Green Party website already and when they get to each menu item or section, they will read about Colorado Greens, not the national greens.
I completely agree with changing "About GPCO" to something else. This is a change that I hadn't even considered but I think it would be an improvement. I think my first to choices would be "Who we are" or "About Us" or even just "About". I am up for some other ideas too. I am less in favor of "About the Greens" because it isn't specific to the GPCO.
About GPCOThis links to the "About" page. The title of this page should say "About the GPCO" instead of what it currently says, "About GPOC". I think the body of text on this page could use some re-writing to pertain more to the Green Party of Colorado. (see above for my issue with GPCO and suggestion for different heading)
I hear your concerns about the GPCO abbreviation being uninspiring. I agree in some instances but I don't think I am as opposed to it in all cases as you are. That being said, I agree that this would be an ideal spot to use something different than the abbreviation. My main concern with this is that it says GPOC instead of GPCO (or something better). I feel that the GPOC abbreviation should never be used because it is not the official abbreviation (GPCO is used in the bylaws). I think we should just use "About The Green Party of Colorado" as the title on this page (but not the navbar). I would also suggest that we do a search for the word "GPOC" on the website and replace all instances of it with either "GPCO" or a non-abbrevated variation when appropriate.
GPCO StructureCurrently, "About GPCO" lists the following sub items: Board Members & Contacts, Bylaws, Procedures & Guidelines, and Financials. The sub items Council Proposals and Committees are currentlylisted under the News and Get Involved navbar links respectively. All of these sub items mentioned should be merged into one page. This is the GPCO Structure page.. The easy thing to do would be to just create this page and put links to all these pages on it. It would be nice to someday have a description and perhaps a diagram of how the GPCO is organized. This could be added later though. -I don't like the GPCO Structure title; could it be "Party Organization" or something else? Or actually it seems like these should be revised into two different menu items with some info moved to other website pages (i.e. contacts) as follows:1 new menu heading- State Officers (use Board Members & Contacts) and I would take off the contact info from this page as it will be on the contact page. In place of contact info, you could put photos of each person plus a very brief bio (40-70 words) or a link to a less brief bio (150-250 words) plus you could add a couple paragraphs about state officer terms and some relevant info from the bylaws or P&G to help website visitors and prospective state officer candidates see details about what officers are/do.2 new menu heading: Bylaws & Procedures (Bylaws, Procedures & Guidelines) only,Then, I think Financials should go at the bottom of the History page or mixed in with the history so for example: years with officers first, state meeting minutes second, and Financials last for each year (2011-2012 etc).
I think how we organize this page is going to require the most discussion of anything in this proposal. The area of disagreement it seems is surrounding what information should appear on the "Contact Us" page. I want to begin by saying that I am alright with not using the GPCO abbreviation as the name of this page. I think "Party Organization" or "Party Structure" would be good alternatives. I also agree that "State Officers" (or perhaps "Party Officers") is a far better title than "Board Members & Contacts" I believe that my original comments were accurately understood but as I read what I wrote, I understand that my description was a bit convoluted. The following is a listing of links that would appear as sub items on the "Party Structure" page as well as directly on the this page. Hovering the mouse on "Party Structure" would reveal these sub items and clicking on "Party Structure" would show a page with these same links and a possibly brief descriptions. This links are (in this order more or less):State OfficersCommitteesBylawsProcedures & GuidelinesCouncil ProposalsFinancialsTanya, I think the brief description of what these items are (such as officer terms, etc.) is an excellent idea. I would happily assist in writing these descriptions. I think this descriptions should appear at the top of each individual page as a synopsis about what it means. I also really like the idea about the picture and the bio for the state officers. I think there is room for their contact info on this page even if it also appears on the "Contact Us" page. I would be alright with merging the "Bylaws" and "Procedures & Guidelines" into one page but this would complicate things a bit because clicking the suggested "Bylaws and Procedures" sub item would have to present the visitor with the two documents merged into one page. These are both relatively long documents so it would make searching them more difficult. We could put anchor links for both these documents at the top of the page that would scroll to the proper document. We could even expand on this and create a table of contents for each document by creating a table of contents for each with anchor links for each section. Any variation on this though would take a lot more work than just giving each document its own sub item heading. For now, I think we should just take the path of least resistance on this, especially since there is much talk of revising both of these documents. I do disagree with moving financials to the "History" page. To understand my disagreement, I feel it is important to explain where I am coming from. The primary principles that I had in mind when making improvements to this website were "who is viewing using this website" and "how can it be structured to best serve them". The first question (who) has three answers: People that are not involved with the GPCO and want to learn more (prospective members or others just seeking information), those that are somewhat involved and want to get more involved, and those that are very involved and need reference to things (such as bylaws, P&G, financials, state officer contacts, etc). The first group I feel is the most important to cater to because viewing our website may be their first impression of the GPCO. If they see a website that is mostly made for insiders, they will feel unwelcome. We also must consider how are website appears to non-Greens such as press and average people just wanting to learn more. We won't be taken seriously if our website isn't welcoming to the general public. While that first group should be the priority, I do feel that we can and should serve the other two audiences without compromising the first. We do this by organizing the information in such a way so that the insider GPCO stuff is still available to but doesn't interfere with the browsing experience of the general public. I am saying all this now because I feel that the history page is something that is useful to the general public. I think adding our financials information to this page would complicate it and make it less appealing. I do believe in making our financials transparent to the public, but transparency should be balanced with great organization. Give the public access to what they want, but don't overload them with information. I feel that the "Party Structure" page is the best spot for the financials because the information on this page mostly appeals to those that are already involved in the GPCO. It is still very accessible to the public but won't get in their way if they don't care to see it. I feel the very same way about what information appears on the "Contact Us" page. I feel that the "Contact Us" page should be intended mostly for the general public. The contact items that pertain most to the general public are the P.O. Box, Co-chairs, and lastly the webadmin in case there are issues with the website (though this is the least of my concerns). The next items listed should be the the link to the chapters' contact info and link to the Green office holders page. These are arguable the most important items on the contact page because it allows people to directly to tap in to our decentralized structure. I do agree with identifying the Co-chairs as the media contacts. Below these links, I would encourage us to put a link to our "State Officers" page with the contact info. I say this because your average person has no need to contact the secretary, treasurer, or NC delegate. That is all internal party stuff which I feel best fits on the "Party Structure" page. I suppose I would be alright with putting the other state officer contact info directly on the "Contact Us" page, but only with the more nessicary information appearing first and seperated somehow from the information that is more pertinent to the general public. The downside to this is that it would require a lot more maintenance at officer changes than just putting a link on the "Contact Us" page to the "State Officers" page in the "Party Structure" section. I say this because if we are going to have the bios on the "State Officers" page and their contact info on the "Contact Us" page, that is two separate pages that need to be updated when we get new officers.
This is probably a good time to explain that I think we have to make our procedures and rules more easily accessible to people who are looking for info about specific roles/ways to get involved. Right now, we always refer people to the bylaws or the P&G which are such long documents and you have to search through them to find specific info. It would be more helpful of us if we created pages/downloadable info sheets about specific items such as: State Officers (duties, terms and qualifications), Public Office Candidates (qualifications, process, timelines, etc.), New Chapters (how to begin, who can do it, how to find support, requirements for approval by state, etc.).
Tanya, I very much agree. I am willing to help out with this as well. I am glad you are bringing this up because this is the kind of thing we need to be working towards and we need to think about how the website will accommodate such information.
Resolutions and Position StatementsThis link currently is "GPCO Resolutions". I would be fine with keeping this title but I feel that "Position Statements" adds a meaningful description. We should add items like our endorsement of Occupy and such. The GPCO has issued several endorsements and position statements and I wish it was something that was done more often. It is a great way for visitors to see what the GPCO stands behind. -I AGREE or Platform or Political Platforms but whatever you think is most understandable.
It sounds like we are all on board with this one. I just thought I should mention that someday I would like to have a "Platform" sub item on this menu. It doesn't make sense to add this now because we currently don't have a platform. I see a platform growing out of our position statements. I also wanted to point out that we have a news category called "Position Statements". For now, we could just link the "Resolutions and Position Statements" page to the news category page http://www.coloradogreenparty.org/category/position-statements/
E-ListsI think this page can stay for now. I do think the section about how to get on the Council listerv should be removed. It instructs people to contact Claire Ryder. This info really doesn't need to be there. Any local that is forming can get instructions on how to join the council listserv by contacting the Co-Chairs. -This page will need to be changed to "Forums" as soon as possible and describe and have links to the various forum participation opportunities. For example, it would start with how to join a discussion forum, and then how to observe state council forum activities, and how to become a state online council/forum voting member, etc. I also think this should have a subheading/drop down menu item for "Join a Chapter" and that page would link back to the Local Chapters pages but have more details on how to find your chapter and what it takes to join chapter activities and what to do if no chapter exists in your area.
Right now we are just promoting the forum to the GPCO council. I believe we will soon open it up to all GPCO registered voters in the next few months. Bill and I have been considering how non-council forum members will register and be verified. For now, lets just keep the eLists page up and we will update it when the forum is ready to accept general members. I don't really see much of a need to have information about how to sign-up for council on this page because new council members are handled internally. It would be best to just have general information about how council members are selected on the "Party Structure" page. I like the idea of describing how to observe council activities. We should add that as soon as we are accepting general members to the forum. I love the "Join a Chapter" page. Great idea, Tanya. I agree that we should be sure it contains a link to the "Chapters" page, and I also think the "Chapters" page should contain a link to the "Join a Chapter" page.
ContactThis currently says contacts. I think it should say Contact.. I prefer the verb to the plural noun. -Actually "Contact" is still a noun though it could be a verb but it is unclear with just the one word. If we want it more active, it should probably be "Contact us" (just like Get Involved).I would like to change this page to more of a "this is how you get in touch with the GPCO" rather than just a listing of officers. It would be very helpful to add a paragraph that explains reasons for contacting the GPCO. Something like, "If you have any questions or are interested in starting a local of the GPCO, contact the co-chairs. You can get in touch with the GPCO local in your area by visiting our Chapters page." Right now it is a little bit intimidating because it is a somewhat long list of official positions. Someone may not know who to begin with. I also think that the State representatives and the GPCO Council facilitator should be listed on GPCO structure page. We have to remember that people visiting the contact page are probably not already involved with the GPCO. -I AGREE that sentences describing who to contact for what would be more useful, but probably all the current contacts need to remain there for some reason or another, just better identified. For example, we should also list who is the media contact (co-chairs for now).
I love how grammatical we got on this subject. I agree that "Contact Us" is far better that just "Contact". Please see my comments about the "Contact Us" page in the "GPCO Structure" a.k.a. "Party Structure" section.
DonateThis is arguably the most important page of the whole website. It is usually the last link on the navbar for easy access. It is also sometimes highlighted. We should make it stand out. - I AGREE. We also have to think about where Green merchandise can be located. Would it be a second dropdown menu item under donate? Or would it be under Get Involved or where? Kevin has been wanting this link for a while. And, my chapter members were recently asking how to get GPCO paraphenalia so it would be good to finally add our Colorado Green Store (which would also be needed if we sell that ebook that Eric proposed at the state meeting).
That is great news about the merchandise. I would love to see that. Let's give it its own Navbar link between "Contact" and "Donate" we could call this "Store" or "Merch" or something.
I also like this from the Libertarian site and think it could go under Get Involved or Who we are: http://lpcolorado.org/learn/am-i-libertarian/http://www.theadvocates.org/quizPlus I think we need to have some links on our site to the League of Women Voters and VoteSmart websites that help people figure out which political districts they are in and which offices are in those districts and when the elections are. Our chapter members have no idea about these matters and keep talking about researching it. It is slowing us down, so it would be great to have those links to help people figure those out. They would probably be under the Get Involved section under new dropdown menu items such as "Support a Candidate" and "Run in an election" or "Become a Candidate" and "Get appointed to office" (this last one would explain about how there are so many opportunities for Greens to get appointed to local, state and regional boards, commissions, etc. and begin their political career or at least contribute their Green perspective to local and state government without seeking election).
Tanya, These are wonderful ideas. As I read them it clicks with another idea that I have been thinking of for a while. My pipe dream is that we will someday have the resources to erect a billboard. My idea for what this bill board would say is something likeWe Were Green Before it Was Cool - Green Party of Colorado, since 1992 - Register Green|Vote Green|Be GreenThe key part of why I am mentioning this is the "Register Green|Vote Green|Be Green" motto. It just clicked as I was reading your suggestions here that we could create sub items under "Get Involved" titled "Register Green", "Vote Green", "Be Green". "Register Green" has already been proposed. "Vote Green" would have information (separate from the news section) about our current candidates for office and voter guides that issue recommending which ballot measures we support or oppose. The League of Women Voters and VoteSmart links would be here so people can see which Greens they can vote for. The "Be Green" section is all about taking it to the next level. This would have information about being a GPCO candidate and getting more involved with the internal workings of the GPCO. We would also link to the "Join a Chapter" page. This could also be the place to put the Am I Green section too. What do you think? I like the links that Bill suggested as well. I think they would probably fit best under "Vote Green"Continue...
…Continued (Part 2 of 2)One other thing that I thought I would mention that I haven't before. We use the term "Chapters" a lot on the website yet our bylaws refer to locals. I try to use the term "locals" internally but I find it is easiest to use the term "chapters" when talking to the Secretary of State office. I notice that the GPUS generally uses the term "locals". A Google search reveals that state Green Parties use various terms including locals, local chapters, and (rarely) chapters. What I am getting at is that the term "locals" is more proper but the term "chapters" is more recognizable to the general public. The term "local chapters" may be the best of both worlds but it is a lengthy term for navbar links (such as "Join a Local Chapter"). Maybe we could mostly use the term "local" but use the term "local chapter" in some instances. I know there are bigger priorities than this and this is something we could easily change later, but I thought I would at least mention it now. It feels great that this is finally under way. Thanks so much for you input, Tanya; you have certainly improved upon my original ideas. Jonesy
Hello, sorry for a few days absence again. And thanks for all your serious consideration of the best way to present the website!Locals vs ChaptersLocals is not a plural noun. It is an abridged version of Local Chapters. The only noun for Local is a local bus route (in my opinion, still not a real noun) and a local anestesia. I understand your concern about length etc. I agree that we can use Locals in headings and in second references in sentences and paragraphs. I prefer to use Local Chapters or local chapters in all first references where word length is not an issue. That could be our style guide rule. We can drop ever using chapters by itself.AboutLet's go ahead with About or About us or Who We Are. I am good with all three. However, I disagree with the idea that About the Greens is confusing because it does not specify Colorado. If that were the case, About and About us and Who we are have the same issue- they do not indicate About whom or About Colorado. Still, you decide between these choices. I think it is an improvement to move away from About GPCO.RE:I think we should just use "About The Green Party of Colorado" as the title on this page (but not the navbar). I would also suggest that we do a search for the word "GPOC" on the website and replace all instances of it with either "GPCO" or a non-abbrevated variation when appropriate.I agree!Party Structure or Party OrganizationI agree with all your comments here. Go for it!Actually, my only issue is that I would prefer Financials not to be on the drop down menu under this heading on the navbar. I would like it to be a link on the Party Structure/Organization page but not in the dropdown menu. It is still available but just not as accessible.Resolutions and NewsI agree with your agreement. However, we need to remove resolutions or council proposals from News. Position statements might be OK under news, but I think our council business and its results are not real news. They go under the About or Position Statements or somewhere else. I would think news should be press releases from our candidates, locals, etc. and media coverage (links to news, radio, etc. about us).Chapters and Council forumI agree with your ideas and your and Bill's plans.Merchandise linkCool. It's own link on the navbar is cool. Keeping with the theme of active verbs, how about: Purchase, Be Green, Wear Green, Shop with us... Your choice.Register Green, Vote Green, Be GreenLove your ideas. Thank you. Now, have fun getting it done and be sure to contact me when you need assistance.Tanya
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