The Drawing Research Network has a brand new website with many new and useful tools for keeping connected with members. In this first article we take a look at some of the interesting features on offer and how you can use them.
Overview
The Drawing Research Network has been online since 2003 and its popularity is growing. Now, in January 2010 we are able to take the functionality of the site to the next level by handing back much of the control of the site to you, the user. We have built in several very useful features that we hope you are able to take advantage of – these can be found in our 2-page website help guide in PDF form to get you started.
- Improved gallery functionality. The user can view up to 42 thumbnails at a time and the images are opened in an elegant lightbox.
- News items are now arranged in a more readily accessible form including the ability to view group news items, exhibitions and DRN network news via the different categories displayed beneath the heading image.
- Members List: you can access the full list of members by becoming a member of the Drawing Research Network. To do this go to REGISTER under the ADMINISTRATION panel on the right below the demo video. Benefits to membership also include the ability to add articles to the news page, find other members and view recent site activities.
- Improved archiving and article browsing using the WordPress blogging system.
- Improved search engine optimisation for news articles and pages and cleaner design code for future proof site development compliant with current web standards.
Help – I don’t understand this new system
First of all, we have thought of the variety of users who may wish to browse this site – some may simply wish to browse the websites articles which are open to everyone who accesses the site. There are those who will want to find contacts in the members list or to ask a quick question from the group using the Question page and to do this you will need to login. Finally, there are those who will want to write articles for the site and we have our own guidance in the 2-page website help guide. You can also look at the following links on WordPress.tv to get you started:
To find out how easy it is to use the site, have a browse around the entire collection of news items on the homepage or select a category from the Group’s dropdown menu to see what news specific groups have been posting on the site. In addition, you may wish to view some of these videos to get an overview of how to write an article.
RSS Feed
You can also add an RSS feed to keep up to date with the latest news on the site. If you are not sure what an RSS feed is or how using one can benefit you then see the article What Is An RSS Feed?
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3 Responses
Love the look! Congrats on the new site upgrade, Steve! –Rob
Re: May we add Drawing related jpgs to the gallery ?
Thank you for all the hard work that has gone into this – the guide was very helpful also. It would be good to be able to add a little folder of images to the gallery here ? What do other DRN members think.
Aine
[...] all for the moment – you can see the original DRN introduction article for additional information. We hope you have enjoyed using the site and its new features so far and [...]