The WCCA web-site

The WCCA web-site has been improved… 

The Company is at present (23/11/2012) mid-way through the task of improving our web-site. We think that all the City Livery companies should make every effort to make their activities visible and their workings ‘transparent’. The Company’s web-site is an important aspect of this strategy. 

Until recently, the WCCA has had three separate locations for finding data that serves both the membership and the general public interest. 

They were: 

1. The static web site http://www.architects-livery-company.org 
2. The blog site http://architects-livery-company.blogspot.co.uk 
3. The A6 paper Red Book issued to members annually 

1 - The first of these, a web-site created in about 2005 with the programme ‘Dreamweaver’, was then innovative but now seems modest in ambition. It transpired to be hard to edit on a frequent basis. It fell to neglect and omission. 

2 - The second, a newer experiment, allowed Company events to be easily recorded as they occurred by WCCA members themselves, and so give visitors some sense of the vitality of the Company. It used the Google ‘Blogger’ service – a ‘free’ service to the users. 

3 - The third location, a paper booklet that has been accurately up-dated annually, contains the private contact data of all the Company’s members and committees with other general information about the company’s history and Articles. 

These three elements have now been combined into a fully digital single web-site at a new (and simpler) web address:

www.charteredarchitectscompany.com 

All private access data has been redacted from the Virtual Red Book 

On entering this new web-site, a new ‘splash page’ appears - one that holds no data but acts only as an preface. You can click a button to choose the area that responds to the enquiry: 

• Home 
• The WCCA blog site 
• The virtual Red Book 
• The WCCA charities 
• The WCCA students 
• The WCCA travel award 
• The WCCA newsletters 
• The WCCA Facebook page 

The splash page will display a large photo of the winning design for the WCCA New City Building Award.  Maybe you have a suitable image for us to use? 

We hope that all members of the Company will experiment between the various pages of this new site and learn to navigate easily between them. Members should also consider making a contribution to the blog page, which is eloquent testimony to the activities and events that we all enjoy. At least put a ‘bookmark’ on your computers and i-phones. The site is re-formatted automatically for use on handheld devices and tablets.

Most of the pages and posts allow readers react and to make comments - click on the small 'comments' button at the foot of each entry.  After 'moderation' - checking the authenticity of the contribution made - these comments will appear to subsequent readers who are similarly interested in that particular topic.

At the foot of the ‘splash page’, there are two clickable ‘buttons’ that allow one to e-mail either the Clerk or the Company’s Web-Master. 

The project is underway and the bones of the new system are operational – now to the larger task of getting every detail up-to-date. Comments, corrections and contributions please!