So if you are reading this, you've probably noticed things have changed here at XCOttawa.ca. This new site design is the result of a few hundred hours of work over the years. Here's a brief history of the site...
The XC Ottawa website came into existance shortly after the team was formed the team in 2001. Here's what it looked like then, not that impressive but functional. It served a simple purpose, to tell a few local racers about when and where we were training and racing.
Not long after that the team realized the benefit of the site and it began to grow. It wasn't all that popular, but those that knew about it appreciated it. So a bit of work was done to make it look a little bit better for the 2002 season...
By late 2003, the design seemed reasonable and we went about writing and reporting on skiing, training and racing in Ottawa. (Not to mention promoting our team and it's wonderful sponsors.) Well we did a lot of that, and the end result was a huge site with over 500 articles, nearly 3000 pictures and links to thousands of other skiing articles. The site was getting to be very popular. Last season it got >500 visitors/day in winter and ~250 visitors/day in the summer.
The reason for this is that we've added a lot of useful features; the webcam, the gatineau park reports, links to great xc ski articles, workout suggestions, etc.. But all of these features made it a bit of an eye sore...at least to me, who stares at it daily. So in order to add more features, I decided it was time to do a little house electronic keeping and in the process design a new website that would serve the team and the Ottawa ski community a bit better. Besides I wanted to learn a few new tricks, and apply them to something useful for skiers.
I'd like to thank the following people...
- Edith, for hours of help and support.
- Harry Nowell for his great picture of Arno at the 2005 Eastern Canadian Championships.
- Joan who digitally perfected the image of Arno used in the top left corner.
- Arno, for lending his image.
- Sheila for her tireless contributions.
- The XCOttawa.ca team for their helpful feedback, suggestions, contributions and countless great articles.
The XC Ottawa website came into existance shortly after the team was formed the team in 2001. Here's what it looked like then, not that impressive but functional. It served a simple purpose, to tell a few local racers about when and where we were training and racing.
Not long after that the team realized the benefit of the site and it began to grow. It wasn't all that popular, but those that knew about it appreciated it. So a bit of work was done to make it look a little bit better for the 2002 season...
By late 2003, the design seemed reasonable and we went about writing and reporting on skiing, training and racing in Ottawa. (Not to mention promoting our team and it's wonderful sponsors.) Well we did a lot of that, and the end result was a huge site with over 500 articles, nearly 3000 pictures and links to thousands of other skiing articles. The site was getting to be very popular. Last season it got >500 visitors/day in winter and ~250 visitors/day in the summer.
The reason for this is that we've added a lot of useful features; the webcam, the gatineau park reports, links to great xc ski articles, workout suggestions, etc.. But all of these features made it a bit of an eye sore...at least to me, who stares at it daily. So in order to add more features, I decided it was time to do a little house electronic keeping and in the process design a new website that would serve the team and the Ottawa ski community a bit better. Besides I wanted to learn a few new tricks, and apply them to something useful for skiers.
I'd like to thank the following people...
- Edith, for hours of help and support.
- Harry Nowell for his great picture of Arno at the 2005 Eastern Canadian Championships.
- Joan who digitally perfected the image of Arno used in the top left corner.
- Arno, for lending his image.
- Sheila for her tireless contributions.
- The XCOttawa.ca team for their helpful feedback, suggestions, contributions and countless great articles.
Interesting Reading. . .
"Setting the Stage. Setting the Pace.
La mise en scène. Au rythme du client."