Just a few status items I wanted to update you all on:
Last night Mitch Ryder and I had a short technical session. He is now prepared to back me
up (as an Assistant State Coordinator) to make any urgent changes to the state website or
anything else which resides on the new
idgenweb.org server should I become unavailable or
unresponsive (for example, getting hit by a bus!). We will be continuing periodic online
meetings to ensure that we as a team will be able to support you well. He is also
subscribed to the official mailing list for State leadership and so will be up on what is
going on that we might need to know.
The first operation of our county backup list has just occurred. Mitch had asked to be on
the backup list a while back for Ada county. Since Kris this week found it necessary to
give up her county for the time being, Mitch was the only one on that backup list, I have
assigned Ada County to him. I am not yet quite ready to put up an online version of the
backup list but will do so in the next few weeks. In the meantime, anyone is welcome to
express interest in a county that is already covered and I will put them on the list in
case that county becomes available in the future.
The following counties now reside on the new
idgenweb.org server: Ada, Boise, Canyon,
Gem, Valley and Washington. The links from the state website have been updated. There
are several other counties that are in the process of moving, or evaluating whether they
want to move. In view of the dynamic nature of the website at this time, I've decided
I will be making the periodic backups more frequently than once a month, probably once a
week for a time.
Jason Mendenhall has agreed to help test out the Front Page capability of the new server
using a copy of his Power County website, which he publishes using Front Page. I'm in
the process of setting up that location for the test and will keep you posted as to the
results of the test.
All county websites can now be reached using a common URL -
http://countyname.idgenweb.org/. For those counties located elsewhere (this involves
Rootsweb, usgennet, and others) there is an immediate redirect from that URL to the
county's real site. This is driven by a small database and a few lines of PHP code
that is the same for every county. If someone moves to
idgenweb.org, that small file is
removed from their directory. If they were to move from one server to another, it
requires only database update. I suggest you consider using this new format for any links
you have to neighboring counties. That will eliminate the need to change your pages if a
neighboring county moves from one server to another.
Now that the National Election is finished, this would be a good time to make sure you are
registered to vote in the next one. You can register at:
http://www.usgwelections.org/USGenWeb/register.cfm If you have any trouble doing so, give
a yell.
As always, I want to assure you that I'm willing and interested in providing you with
any help you need in building and improving your county websites.
Mike St. Clair