This diary is an occasional contribution by the Webmaster, advising of changes to the website and other information that may be of interest to members and visitors

6 April 2005

This will be the last diary update on the Geocities hosted website. Hoofin' It Online has now moved to the Wellington Community Network. The change in hosting offers a number of advantages. The advertising content is less intrusive with the only requirement being the logos and links on the home page. Hosting is free to Wellington community groups, and includes some useful facilities normally only offered under commercial hosting arrangements. From a maintenance perspective, the ability to upload files using FTP, and download them similarly for backup purposes, is a significant advantage. Without having to purchase a domain name, we get a website that is more distinctively "Wellington", featuring our club name at the beginning of the URL rather than the end. And we've forged stronger links to our community through this change, to our mutual advantage.

Please click here to transfer to the new website.

17 March 2005

Well, there comes a time when, having agonised for days over the changes you're making, and delaying the inevitable while you fuss over the details, you finally just have to "go live". That day is here. I hope the new design meets with approval, and I'm happy to receive constructive feedback. Email the webmaster at:

For now, the website continues to be hosted by Geocities.com, an acquisition of Yahoo.com. The website is hosted under the Yahoo basic hosting plan which is advertising supported and free to the site owner. I have hopes that the club may be eligible for hosting by a local ISP under a community good or sponsored hosting plan.  Provided the WATRC committee agree, we'll be pursuing this in the near future.

In anticipation of a move to a new hosting arrangement, and as an exercise in bringing the design and content of the website under a model that better meets the Web Accessibility Initiative issued by the World Wide Web Consortium, you'll observe that there are already some changes afoot.

Taking on board the colour scheme of the Hoofin' It website logo, this has now been matched in the menu sidebar. The menu links are yellow to likewise approximate the logo colour scheme, and the menu has been extended. I've noted however that recent newsletters have featured a different graphic with a black and gold colour scheme, so it's likely that a further changes will be made in the near future.

At this late stage in the 2004/2005 season, some of the new links are more a demonstration of intent for the new season, and will not be updated until new information comes to hand.

To ensure that nothing is lost, the old site will also be accessible for some time as content is migrated.

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March 5, 2005

As some of you have probably noticed, there has been little maintenance of this website for some time. As I understand it, the previous webmaster, Mark, has been out of the country and unable to continue with the maintenance, and the site has languished for want of someone to pick up the task. That's where I come in.

To introduce myself, I'm David - for most of you I'm probably best recognised as the nut who's ventured off into the hills on some of your recent rides, without a horse, only to meet up with you on your's, and take your picture. That's me. My wife Leslie recently joined WATRC and we've been taking Mac to recent events. If you notice that Leslie and Mac get their picture taken a little more often than the rest of you, that's why.

So, to the website. I've volunteered to take over the maintenance. Leslie and I have so enjoyed the access to fabulous riding and hiking trails that the club rides offer, that it seemed only reasonable to offer to put something back into the club. I've also put forward a suggestion for seeking an alternative hosting arrangement for the site - I'm hoping for a Wellington based ISP, a maintenance interface that's a little easier to work with, a less advertising driven ISP, and a site without annoying and irrelevant pop-ups. We'll see what develops in that area.

Given that we're now nearing the end of the 2004/2005 season with only the Makara ride to go, there may not be much happening for a few months. I hope to be able to use that time to develop some contacts who can provide content, and perhaps redesign and relocate the site as outlined above. My initial aim is to ensure that the website serves up-to-date information about the club, its contact and membership details, along with newsletters, results sheets, photographs from events, and links to our sponsors and other useful resources. I should add that I'm not a professional website developer, so my aim will be for a site that's functional rather than frilly.

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To view the previous webmaster's diary on the old website, click here. Content from the old site will be migrated to the new design over the next few weeks. We'll be reviewing the material as we go to ensure that it's accurate and still relevant.