administrative actions
Please select an action from the list below. Be prepared to enter the appropriate password at the log-in screen.
site concept
The Web site BostonIslands.com is divided into five sections:
- Islands Visitor Guide—This section is an up-to-date resource for people who want to go to the islands, participate in park programs, or get island information.
- Islands Learning Center—This section provides resources that teachers can use to include the islands in their curriculum and provides activities for students who want to use the park as part of their studies.
- Park Management Guide—This section provides background details about park management actions and issues that individuals with more than a casual interest in the park may be seeking.
- Help Us—This section offers users of BostonIslands.com the opportunity to support park operations by working or volunteering; conducting research; ordering goods associated with the park from the island store; or by making a financial contribution.
- Site Information—This section is for users of BostonIslands.com who want details about our Web site, such as administrators and contract developers. It includes a Site Index and administrative functions.
Within each section there are between three and five high-level links to information. For example, high-level navigation in the Park Management Guide section is:
- The Park
- Administration
- Opportunities
- News & Issues
- Island Talk
Portal & Home Pages
The index file on the root directory (BostonIslands.com/index.html) is the "portal", "gateway", or "front page" to the site. It provides navigation among the sections, depending on the user's interests. Each section has a "home page" to assist with navigation within that section. The home page addresses are:
- Islands Visitor Guide—BostonIslands.com/visithome.html
- Islands Learning Center—BostonIslands.com/learn/index.html
- Park Management Guide—BostonIslands.com/manage/index.html
- Islands Store—BostonIslands.com/store/index.html
- Site Information—BostonIslands.com/site/index.html
domain names
The World Wide Web domain name for the official Boston Harbor Islands Partnership site is: bostonislands.org, which is marketed as BostonIslands.com. Active domain names and pointers for the site are:
- bostonislands.com (non-www)
- www.bostonislands.com
- www.bostonislands.org
- www.bostonharborislands.com
- www.bostonharborislands.org
- www.harborislands.org
A portion of the site is dedicated to the work of the Island Alliance, which can be reached via the following domain pointers:
- www.islandalliance.com
- www.islandalliance.org
In addition the Island Alliance owns the following domain names for use by the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership:
- www.bostonislands.info
- www.bostonharborislands.info
- www.harborislands.info
- www.islandsite.org
file management
Please contact the Web master for file locations and mandatory naming protocols.
Design
The site has page that is centered in the browser on a grey background. A column on the left contains the park logo and main navigation. A header goes across the top of the remainder with sub-navigation (within the main section highlighted on the left) below the page title. The content is composed of two columns: the main content on the left and a narrow column for more information on the right. The more info column may be blank, contain text, or contain images: all content on the right MUST link to pages elsewhere on BostonIslands.com.
Sizes
- page width pixels = 764
- main nav width pixels = 94
- main content text pixels = 540 (40 px margin on left)
- right column pixels = 130
- island profile history words = 250
Pallette
The background of the main content on all pages in every section of BostonIslands.com is white (#ffffff). Text color is dark purple (#330066).
Each of the five sections has its own color pallette for the left navigation bar.
Accessibility
It is our intent that BostonIslands.com be available to a broad range of users who may be using various levels of technology. The National Park Service guidelines presented at www.nps.gov/access must be followed when designing for this site.
For instance, "A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links." The point here is simply to provide clean navigation so that users can navigate in a web-like manner, rather than having to back track to an earlier page to get to another part of the site. Providing links on each page to every section of the site, good common sense site design, should prevent this.
All images created as part of this site must have alt text. Alt text is not just for visually impaired people. It is also for people who have graphics turned off on their browsers and the text also gives users something to look at while graphics are loading. For photos and important graphics, the alt text should be descriptive (see advice at www.nps.gov/access).
Color should not be used to convey meaning. In other words, don't create a map and then say "the green areas are open to the public while the red areas are restricted." Of course we want to use color as part of our design, and prefer contrast between text and background.
Passwords
Passwords are provided by the Web master to enable users to modify site content. There are four levels of access:
- Level One: reserved for a general registration of site visitors
- Level Two: Program & Events editing; any lower level
- Level Three: What's New entries; any lower level
- Level Four: complete Program & Events editing including access to Featured Event, Meetings calendar editing, and all lower levels
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