Site Updates

After many sites have now been started to be developed, we've received a lot of feedback. So here's a list of changes that will be made to the sites within the next month or so.

• The discussion boards will, by default, be made so only those logged in can post to them.  If you would like your county's discussion board turned on so the public can use it, notify Neil and he will turn it on.  Discussion boards that are open to the public are expected to be moderated by the county staff.
• The external resource link to Ohioline will get it's own feature, giving a brief explaination of what users can find there.  Additionally, Ohioline will be listed at the bottom of all of the search results pages, so if a user does a search and does not find what s/he is looking for, they will be more likely to still have somewhere to look.
  
• The look of the news items on the front page will be condensed, so they appear much less wordy and take up less space.
• The State Extension topic areas will be moved to the right column on the page and will now be linking to the state extension page.  Counties will be able to post their own navigation structure so county level programs can be featured.  The wording used from the state topics should be used for this county level navigation when applicable, however.
• A Live Search feature will be put into place, allowing users to see search results while they're still typing in their search.  This will allow users on slow connections to get to the content they want quicker.
  
• The external resources will be moved to the grey column on the right.  The process of creating an external resource has changed to make it easier.
  
• A list of hot topics will be listed on the front page next to the news items.  These hot topics will consist of pages on the county's site.  The administrators of the site will be able to specify which pages they wish to be displayed on this section.
• The calendaring system will be put into place, such that it will use the calendars stored on the Communigate server.

If you have any suggestions for futher developments, please email Neil at coplin@ag.osu.edu with your comments.  Thanks!