By Jonathan Hiser
When the University debuted its redesigned Web site last Wednesday, Student Activities refreshed an old idea: club Web sites. In light of the online face lift, the department asked clubs to review their current Internet addresses to confirm their own Web pages weren't lost in the changeover.
Director of Student Activities Jeromy Koffler said some clubs were surprised to know that they even had a Web page, and others were inspired to start them.
UP Web Services encourages any clubs that want to have a Web site to contact them.
"You don't have to know how to develop a Web site," said Alexander Flagg, Web content manager and Web publicist. "All you need is your content and you can put it in, so it's fairly simple."
Koffler said Student Activities would like to see more clubs with Web sites and has created a Web page that offers links to every club Web site on campus.
Web services offers clubs two general options for a Web page. The first borrows from the UP Web site's look. Although it doesn't offer as much "fine grain" access, the page layout shares a more contiguous look with the university, Flagg said.
The second and more popular option allows students to design their own Web site from a series of custom-made Web templates. Two such sites include the men's and women's water polo Web sites.
Before coming to UP, senior Stacey Anheier said she was intrigued by the men's water polo Web site. When she and other students formed the women's water polo team their freshman year, they made sure they had a Web site, too.
"It wasn't too hard to do since we had the tech guys help us with the Web site," Anheier said.
Flag said clubs should have an idea of what they want in their Web sites, noting that maintaining a Web site is just as important as creating one.
"You can do almost anything on the Internet, so it's a matter of knowing what you want to do and what you don't want to do," Flagg said. "That will help us build it for your needs.
