HNSA Web Report
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pekelney
Sep 3, 2013, 4:21:07 PM9/3/13
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HNSA Website Report 27 Aug 2013
* Overall Web Site Goals:
Encourage visitation to the ships.
Foster interest in Naval history and technology.
Honor the men and women that serve.
Share information/resources among the ships.
Provide information resources for ship preservation/interpretation.
Communicate goals of the organization and its members.
Attractive to all visitor demographics.
Emphasize museum as well as memorial. Science & technology, not just history.
Focus on ships. Communicate that visiting is fun.
Fully accessible whenever possible for all potential viewers.
Remain unique, fill niche needed by our members not filled by other.
Constraints:
* Work with old browsers/all browsers.
* Work over slow internet.
* Fast page delivery/response for all.
* Fully accessible (http://www.w3.org/, ADA, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act)
* Portable to another ISP with minimum effort.
* Easily transferred to another webmaster.
* Stable over time for minimum maintenance
* Minimize scripting/provide alternatives because it requires maintenance as browsers change and is turned off in secure environments.
* No budget.
* Easy for older visitors (no fixed fonts, simple navigation, etc.)
* Search engine optimization. Minimize page name changes, content worth linking to, no broken links, fast pages serving, use of keywords, minimize scripting, sitemap.xml and robots.txt kept correct, syntactically correct pages.
* Aldona Sendzikas from the University of Western Ontario is working on “In a Sailors Voice”, a collection of first person stories of sailors life at sea for the web site. She is going through received submissions (and checking for suitability/content, as well as copyright issues) and preparing a permissions form. She will soon be contacting all who have sent submissions, re: copyright/permissions.
* Andy Smith has taken over as the handbook editor. Unfortunately, just after taking it on BB Texas has had some serious flooding problems, it will take some time before Andy to get back to the handbook.
* With Bruce Ecker's help the Savannah and Sea Shadow tour images where updated. We deleted Quicktime no longer supported by Apple, and updated the loading Javascript and PHP to best practice.
* After several member sites were subject to hacking episodes, our site was surveyed. We came out clean, the only recommendation was more regular changing of the administration and mysql passwords.
* The entire site was scanned for syntax errors and link errors. Over 48,000 links (Weblight) were scanned and no unexpected errors exist. Since this does not identify the content of properly redirected pages, all the Fleet and Associate member linked pages were verified by hand (about 200 sites).
*** Checking emails and physical addresses cannot be automated and depends on the members to let us know of changes. Please check your ship's page and forward any corrections to hnsa.org/mail.htm ****
* We added quite a bit more reference material in documents section. We have responded to several web visitor requests in choosing the material.
* A remarkable amount of the usage is in the unbranded .PDF files. At some point we might go through and add a cover page with our logo and web address to the approx. 375 pdf files on the site. Note that blueprint reading, Navy Protocol Manual and the modern Navy records management manual are consistently among of the most requested pages. A lot of these requests come from .mil. The ship plans are very popular as well.
* We have been operating Google Grant advertising on the web. We recent went through their upgrade process and are using the additional donation. This has increased the click through rate.
* Facebook, Twitter and BBS links are on the home page. Karen Hill has been active managing and posting the Facebook account. We tried to eliminate the Google Groups BBS, but its members requested that we keep it running and moderated in spite of its redundancy with Facebook.
* The web site now consists of approximately 5.3+ gigabytes of data, 51,000+ files. This does not include 15 gigabytes of submarine war patrol reports served on issuu.com
* The HNSA web site has been operating since 1996. It has had a zero dollar development budget (all volunteer donated) for its entire life.
* At the March 2013 HNSA meeting a small group of members announced their plan to change the HNSA web site, including a proposal to pay a commercial developer. The webmaster did not know of this group or its plan until the meeting. Their proposal sparked a contentious discussion and the formation of a committee. The webmaster has been asked to input to this committee, but has not received any work products from the committee as of 27 Aug 2013.
It is the opinion of the webmaster that any plan for significant change to the web site must start with clear goals and have clear deliverables, a transition plan, and an ongoing maintenance plan. Each element needs a budget with measurable milestones. I would suggest a process that would start with an updated visitor survey, and a member ship survey. Lets first see what they like and do not like about the site. Then I would get together a small group and evaluate how well the current site supports the HNSA mission. The same group would brainstorm ideas how it could better support the mission. Then we would figure out the resources needed to execute the most promising ideas and match these to the resources available. It is possible, but I doubt the outcome of such a process would be a cosmetic makeover as proposed, but it might.
Until a better process is completed, I would prioritize upgrading the content of the Handbook section. Although not as directly tied to the mission, second would be the creation of "In a Sailor's Voice". Many other ideas exist for the site, including: Working on a new round of higher resolution photos for the site, or upgrading the resolution of the images in some of the manuals that where scanned before fast internet and big hard drives. We might make a deeper push into individual equipment manuals that for equipment that is operating in the museums (we have very few of these and stick to the manuals that explain or typify systems.) Or seek a grant to scan a significant number of ship booklet of general plans at the National Archives for inclusion on the site. There are lots of other possibilities, but we need to focus on those which we can afford, and which will best further our mission of supporting the member ships and museums.
* No marketing efforts were expended to increase awareness other than the Google Grants. This report does not include the war patrol reports on issuu.com. Our search engine position remains excellent. These are from the server logs and may vary a bit from the Google Analytics that are also in use.
LAST MONTH:
Report: Summary - hnsa.org
Date Range: 07/01/2013 - 08/01/2013
Total Sessions 190,765.00
Total Pageviews 2,380,931.00
Total Hits 4,742,554.00
Total Bytes Transferred 679.13 GB
Average Sessions Per Day 5,961.41
Average Pageviews Per Day 74,404.09
Average Hits Per Day 148,204.81
Average Bytes Transferred Per Day 21.22 GB
Average Pageviews Per Session 12.48
Average Hits Per Session 24.86
Average Bytes Per Session 3.65 MB
Average Length of Session 00:03:45
PAST 12 MONTHS:
Report: Summary - hnsa.org
Date Range: 08/27/2012 - 08/01/2013
Total Sessions 1,951,915.00
Total Pageviews 23,444,066.00
Total Hits 49,099,627.00
Total Bytes Transferred 6.71 TB
Average Sessions Per Day 5,740.93
Average Pageviews Per Day 68,953.14
Average Hits Per Day 144,410.67
Average Bytes Transferred Per Day 20.22 GB
Average Pageviews Per Session 12.01
Average Hits Per Session 25.15
Average Bytes Per Session 3.61 MB
Average Length of Session 00:04:04
Key:
A Session is a series of any number of hits from one visitor within one week.
A Pageview is a request to the web server by a visitor's browser for any web page; this excludes images, javascript, and other generally embedded file types.
A Hit is a successful request to a webserver from a visitor's browser.
A byte is the quantity of network bandwidth used by the files requested during the selected Date Range.
Submitted 27 Aug 2013, Richard Pekelney, Webmaster
* Overall Web Site Goals:
Encourage visitation to the ships.
Foster interest in Naval history and technology.
Honor the men and women that serve.
Share information/resources among the ships.
Provide information resources for ship preservation/interpretation.
Communicate goals of the organization and its members.
Attractive to all visitor demographics.
Emphasize museum as well as memorial. Science & technology, not just history.
Focus on ships. Communicate that visiting is fun.
Fully accessible whenever possible for all potential viewers.
Remain unique, fill niche needed by our members not filled by other.
Constraints:
* Work with old browsers/all browsers.
* Work over slow internet.
* Fast page delivery/response for all.
* Fully accessible (http://www.w3.org/, ADA, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act)
* Portable to another ISP with minimum effort.
* Easily transferred to another webmaster.
* Stable over time for minimum maintenance
* Minimize scripting/provide alternatives because it requires maintenance as browsers change and is turned off in secure environments.
* No budget.
* Easy for older visitors (no fixed fonts, simple navigation, etc.)
* Search engine optimization. Minimize page name changes, content worth linking to, no broken links, fast pages serving, use of keywords, minimize scripting, sitemap.xml and robots.txt kept correct, syntactically correct pages.
* Aldona Sendzikas from the University of Western Ontario is working on “In a Sailors Voice”, a collection of first person stories of sailors life at sea for the web site. She is going through received submissions (and checking for suitability/content, as well as copyright issues) and preparing a permissions form. She will soon be contacting all who have sent submissions, re: copyright/permissions.
* Andy Smith has taken over as the handbook editor. Unfortunately, just after taking it on BB Texas has had some serious flooding problems, it will take some time before Andy to get back to the handbook.
* With Bruce Ecker's help the Savannah and Sea Shadow tour images where updated. We deleted Quicktime no longer supported by Apple, and updated the loading Javascript and PHP to best practice.
* After several member sites were subject to hacking episodes, our site was surveyed. We came out clean, the only recommendation was more regular changing of the administration and mysql passwords.
* The entire site was scanned for syntax errors and link errors. Over 48,000 links (Weblight) were scanned and no unexpected errors exist. Since this does not identify the content of properly redirected pages, all the Fleet and Associate member linked pages were verified by hand (about 200 sites).
*** Checking emails and physical addresses cannot be automated and depends on the members to let us know of changes. Please check your ship's page and forward any corrections to hnsa.org/mail.htm ****
* We added quite a bit more reference material in documents section. We have responded to several web visitor requests in choosing the material.
* A remarkable amount of the usage is in the unbranded .PDF files. At some point we might go through and add a cover page with our logo and web address to the approx. 375 pdf files on the site. Note that blueprint reading, Navy Protocol Manual and the modern Navy records management manual are consistently among of the most requested pages. A lot of these requests come from .mil. The ship plans are very popular as well.
* We have been operating Google Grant advertising on the web. We recent went through their upgrade process and are using the additional donation. This has increased the click through rate.
* Facebook, Twitter and BBS links are on the home page. Karen Hill has been active managing and posting the Facebook account. We tried to eliminate the Google Groups BBS, but its members requested that we keep it running and moderated in spite of its redundancy with Facebook.
* The web site now consists of approximately 5.3+ gigabytes of data, 51,000+ files. This does not include 15 gigabytes of submarine war patrol reports served on issuu.com
* The HNSA web site has been operating since 1996. It has had a zero dollar development budget (all volunteer donated) for its entire life.
* At the March 2013 HNSA meeting a small group of members announced their plan to change the HNSA web site, including a proposal to pay a commercial developer. The webmaster did not know of this group or its plan until the meeting. Their proposal sparked a contentious discussion and the formation of a committee. The webmaster has been asked to input to this committee, but has not received any work products from the committee as of 27 Aug 2013.
It is the opinion of the webmaster that any plan for significant change to the web site must start with clear goals and have clear deliverables, a transition plan, and an ongoing maintenance plan. Each element needs a budget with measurable milestones. I would suggest a process that would start with an updated visitor survey, and a member ship survey. Lets first see what they like and do not like about the site. Then I would get together a small group and evaluate how well the current site supports the HNSA mission. The same group would brainstorm ideas how it could better support the mission. Then we would figure out the resources needed to execute the most promising ideas and match these to the resources available. It is possible, but I doubt the outcome of such a process would be a cosmetic makeover as proposed, but it might.
Until a better process is completed, I would prioritize upgrading the content of the Handbook section. Although not as directly tied to the mission, second would be the creation of "In a Sailor's Voice". Many other ideas exist for the site, including: Working on a new round of higher resolution photos for the site, or upgrading the resolution of the images in some of the manuals that where scanned before fast internet and big hard drives. We might make a deeper push into individual equipment manuals that for equipment that is operating in the museums (we have very few of these and stick to the manuals that explain or typify systems.) Or seek a grant to scan a significant number of ship booklet of general plans at the National Archives for inclusion on the site. There are lots of other possibilities, but we need to focus on those which we can afford, and which will best further our mission of supporting the member ships and museums.
* No marketing efforts were expended to increase awareness other than the Google Grants. This report does not include the war patrol reports on issuu.com. Our search engine position remains excellent. These are from the server logs and may vary a bit from the Google Analytics that are also in use.
LAST MONTH:
Report: Summary - hnsa.org
Date Range: 07/01/2013 - 08/01/2013
Total Sessions 190,765.00
Total Pageviews 2,380,931.00
Total Hits 4,742,554.00
Total Bytes Transferred 679.13 GB
Average Sessions Per Day 5,961.41
Average Pageviews Per Day 74,404.09
Average Hits Per Day 148,204.81
Average Bytes Transferred Per Day 21.22 GB
Average Pageviews Per Session 12.48
Average Hits Per Session 24.86
Average Bytes Per Session 3.65 MB
Average Length of Session 00:03:45
PAST 12 MONTHS:
Report: Summary - hnsa.org
Date Range: 08/27/2012 - 08/01/2013
Total Sessions 1,951,915.00
Total Pageviews 23,444,066.00
Total Hits 49,099,627.00
Total Bytes Transferred 6.71 TB
Average Sessions Per Day 5,740.93
Average Pageviews Per Day 68,953.14
Average Hits Per Day 144,410.67
Average Bytes Transferred Per Day 20.22 GB
Average Pageviews Per Session 12.01
Average Hits Per Session 25.15
Average Bytes Per Session 3.61 MB
Average Length of Session 00:04:04
Key:
A Session is a series of any number of hits from one visitor within one week.
A Pageview is a request to the web server by a visitor's browser for any web page; this excludes images, javascript, and other generally embedded file types.
A Hit is a successful request to a webserver from a visitor's browser.
A byte is the quantity of network bandwidth used by the files requested during the selected Date Range.
Submitted 27 Aug 2013, Richard Pekelney, Webmaster
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