Den 15 Scouting in Woodinville, Washington

Wolves and fleur–de–lis

Progress report on the Web site - 25 October 07

As many of you saw at the Den meeting on Monday Oct 22 we now have the beginnings of a secure site. There are a few teething problems with Windows IE browser, but that is normal with this product. If you want to really see the Web site in true glory then use the Firefox browser, it is free and standards compliant and shows all the neat little design elements that IE doesn't support.

I hope the boys can now access their personal pages after we created their usernames and passwords. If you are having problems please call me. See my separate email detailing how to edit your pages. I will send out a guide to editing pages in the next few days.

If you want to see where all the boys live on a neat map let me have your address so I can geocode your houses and add them to the mashup.

Accessibility Issues

Sadly, having just fixed the bug in IE7, which stopped some of you seeing the correct menu options on Monday night, there is a new problem with IE6. If you are still using IE6 (Windows XP's default browser) you may find that you get a blank white page after you try and access restricted pages, such as the boys personal pages. If this happens to you then, 1. Blame Microsoft for making an awful product, 2. Tell me about it please and 3. Hit the page refresh on the browser and the log-in page will appear. I have no idea why this is happening but then again it was a Wednesday when this mysterious behavior appeared!

Security

Every boy now has a username and password. Your personal pages are secure so start ading your information and sharing your images and personal details with each other. Remember, when you log-in you are logging in only on the PC or Mac that you are using at that time and only the browser that you are using holds the session variables that store your details. Once you close the browser you lose the log-in, the system does not use cookies so you are safe to access your pages from a public terminal if you wish. Just remember to close the browser once you have finished. I will be adding a log-in/out facility to the home page next week. If you need more information on security measures please contact me.

Den 15 - A fun banner

You can see the banner, which I have designed with a delicate and complex understatement to reflect the global and national reach of Scouting. The fleur-de-lis, which you can see on the right side of the banner, was Lord Baden-Powell's emblem of choice and was derived from the lily and considered a symbol of piece and purity. Baden-Powell had chosen the emblem for his Calavary squadron's scouts whilst serving in Ireland and later adopted the same emblem, with some modifications, for the Scouting movement. The particular fleur-de-lis that you see in the header is stylised from French Arms circa 1730. Once the site is complete there will be more historic references to Lord Baden-Powell and the fleur-de-lis for you to enjoy.

The neatly folded and partially visible flag at the left of the banner needs no introduction. The flag of the United States of America is both a national and globally recognized symbol and provides the identity of our Den. The deep blue background and swirling wisps of white represent the vastness of space and of the mind; offering the notion that adventure and the unknown are an exciting combination for our wolves to explore through scouting. The den's name is bold and in a strong, simple gold color. The wolves name is at the right of the banner and provides a description of the current status of our scouts within the Den.

Den 15 - The Challenge

The banner is of course only one idea of what we may like to use on our Web site, but this site really belongs to our Scouts. So, the challenge is this.....Each scout should design a banner that he would like to see on our Web site. The rules are simple....there are no rules! There are some guidelines though. You need to make your design in a rectangle, so it can fit at the top of the Web page. Size does not matter but don't be too intricate; bold is genarally best, as are muted colors. Try and avoid dayglo as fluorescent colors hurt you eyes when viewed on a monitor! You can draw, paint, use any medium or material that you like for the design. Through the marvel of modern Web design the best designs can be added to the site and we can randomly load a different design each time that a user logs into the page. So, the best designs will be turned into Web banners for the site. Good Luck and get designing!

Law, Promise and Motto

Den 15 - What Content - Monkeys, Movies, Monsters?

It is all very exciting having our own Web site but what do we want to see in it? I want your ideas for content. I have had some suggestions already but I want everyone to have at least one of their own ideas for content included in the final site. We certainly want a calendar, program of events, possibly a list of badges and awards that can be earned. Maybe somewhere we can see photographs or video? What about a Sports Center where we can see all of our sporting schedules and results? Craft ideas, model building tips for the Pinewood Derby....the potential is endless. Let the Den leaders, Richard or Margaret, have your ideas for content and remember to think about what you really want to see and what would make you visit the site.

Over Here

Here you will find navigation and RSS feeds to current news articles of interest.

You will also find a summary table/calendar of upcoming events for the coming week.

And Here?

Links to video, images and external resources may be here?

Splash Page