Creating a Chapter Web Site
Listed below is helpful information designed to guide chapters in building a chapter Web site. Resources compiled in part by Linda Q. Thede, past Region 10 Communications Committee Member. If you have questions about chapter Web sites, please contact webservices@stti.iupui.edu.
Why create a chapter web site?
There are many reasons chapters create a Web site, but the primary reason is to provide information in a user-friendly format for members, prospective members, campus community, general community, other chapters and the media. When designing your chapter’s Web site, keep your audiences in mind. Try to think like they do—make it easy for them to find the information they need.
General Information: Headquarters does not prescribe what a chapter's Web site should include, however, it is important that we retain our Sigma Theta Tau International brand.
Images: To use the honor society's name or crest on your Web site, read the Guidelines for Use of Crest. To protect copyrighted images, other images and photos on the honor society's Web site should not be copied or reproduced on your chapter's Web site without contacting the honor society and requesting permission. Hint: Keep images small so download time is minimal.
Links: Your chapter's Web site should always provide a link to the honor society's Web site on its home page, www.nursingsociety.org, and the school of nursing with which your chapter is affiliated. You may also link to organizations supported or partnered with your chapter.
SUGGESTED MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION: This information may also be included in the monthly newsletter you create via the Chapter Management System on www.nursingsociety.org
- Meeting minutes
- Chapter or member news
- Calendar of chapter meetings and events
- Chapter newsletter
- Contact information for chapter officers and committee chairs
- Chapter scholarship and grant information
- Chapter award information
- Call for volunteers with volunteer position descriptions
- Photos from recent events
- Membership criteria
Who will be responsible for the web site?
Ideally, someone in the chapter who has some experience with creating and updating Web pages. It is important for a person to be responsible for updating your chapter'’s Web site, which should be done a regular basis to keep information up to date.
How do I create a web site?
To create a chapter Web site, you must design the site, host the site and name the site.
Creating the site:
There are three ways to create a chapter Web site:
- Use a Web site template and customize it to meet your needs. This option provides you with a basic template that can be customized for your chapter. You may find free templates online, pay a design company to create a template especially for your chapter, or ask a student to design a template as part of a leadership intern project.
- Use an html program to create your chapter’s Web site. This option requires you to purchase html software like GoLive, FrontPage or Dreamweaver.
- Hand-code html in a text editing program like Microsoft Notepad. For this option, you must learn html code—html code is the language computers use to "read" Web pages. You would write text for each Web page of your chapter's Web site and insert appropriate code. Each page would then be saved as an html file. By linking each file together, you would create the Web site. An online tutorial for building Web sites with html code is available at www.how-to-build-websites.com.
As you design your chapter's Web site, remember that most users want to find information quickly and easily. To help them:
- You may provide a series of links at the top of the Web page or along the left margin of the Web page.
- You should use colors that allow the Web pages to be easily read. White is universally accepted as the preferred background color to use on Web sites. Information about Web safe colors is available at Web Monkey, under the Web developer’s resource.
- You should use a 10 point or 12 point Times New Roman or Arial font for text. These font sizes and types are easy to read and generally supported by all Internet browsers. Use bold or italics to emphasize certain text.
Hosting the site:
After you design your chapter's Web site, you must find a host - a computer server where your chapter's Web site will be stored. Once you have secured a host, that organization or company will instruct you on how to move your Web site files to the server. To find a host, you have several choices.
- Speak with your school's information technology staff and determine whether your school would host your chapter's Web site.
- Contact a Web site hosting company and rent server space from it. You may also be able to get free server space from a hosting company, but those companies will often insert advertisements into your Web pages. Your school's information technology staff could provide suggestions or you could search for possible hosting companies on the Internet. An online list you may check is http://thelist.internet.com. Note: Headquarters is unable to host chapter Web sites at this time.
Naming the Site:
Once you know where your chapter's Web site will be stored, you must obtain a domain name. The domain name is the unique Web site address assigned to your chapter's Web site. If your chapter's Web site is hosted by a hosting company, you can select and register the domain name of your choice, as long as it is not already registered to someone else. It is likely your hosting company can assist you in registering your domain name. Registering domain names costs approximately US$10 to US$30 per year and names can be registered for one to 10 years. An example of a Web site address would be www.alphachapter.com.
If your chapter's Web site is hosted by your school or be a free hosting company, your chapter's Web site will likely be a sub-domain. This means the school or hosting company's name will be part of your Web site's name. Examples of these types of Web site addresses would be www.indianauniversity.edu/alphachapter.edu or www.alphachapter.indianauniversity.edu.