Chestnut Ridge

What in the world would prompt me to spend lots and lots of early mornings and late nights?

Especially considering our old website was doing its job dutifully. I can trace my last five weeks of early morning and late night obsession back to a regular technology email I receive. It's one of those that I normally scan and discard in about ten seconds. This time, however, I perked up at a review of three leading content management systems (CMS for the unabashed geeks in the crowd). Not only does this approach provide a more robust website than we currently had, but all three of the contenders were open source applications (I hope I haven't lost the interest of the non-geeks by this point).

My piqued interest evolved into a decision to learn all about Joomla and reconstruct our website, page by painstaking page. Now you know what I've been doing with my January free time.

So, now Chestnut Ridge has a new web presence. Was it worth it? I think so and here's why:

• Now, anyone of our team can add and edit news articles and web pages. They used to have wait on me to get things posted.
• Pages are now served-up to you, piping fresh and dynamic. The pages are now related by a database so that content is interconnected (check out the "Related Items" section on most pages.
• Interaction with our site can now be accomplished from anywhere I can jump on a computer with internet. No more relying on a local copy of our website.
• The open source community that surrounds Joomla has developed 1,300+ plug-ins that will allow us to extend and leverage our web presence.

I have had help along the way, namely in the form of a graphic design fairy. We met Ande years ago while she was a student at ASU. Since then, she's served on multiple summer teams. Currently she's staying warm in Florida and creating graphic masterpieces. Ande designed our new website's header graphic, exercising great listening and technical skills. If you could benefit from some graphic expertise, consider hiring her. She's in the midst of raising support funds to serve in a mission this summer to Slovakia. Her email is andetruman.at.gmail.com.

But, Wait, There's More!

I'm not done yet! Well, to be honest, I'll never be done. I'm exploring systems that would allow you...yes YOU...to be more involved with us and other Chestnut Ridge afficianados. Along the way, if you find ways this site could benefit you more, please be sure to drop us a line!