| There are now so many very
good pages out on the web, that this is less a "best" on the web and more
of a "my favorites". They're worth a look-see as you plan and develop your
own web page... These may not be your very best, but they're darn good. There
are many, many others as well that likely belong here. I encourage you to
pick and choose from these what you like and use their ideas to make your
own super page and raise the bar for all of us! |
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| CLUBS |
These club pages are excellent to
use as go-bys for your own page. They are well maintained, creative, and
chock full of good information about their club and their league.
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The Manhattan RFC page doesn't quite meet ALL of the
criteria, but it defines utility as it is very easy to use and easy on the
eye. It has the information the club's players need and it's just a darn
fine page.
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The Leicester opening page is also very good, and
while a little more complicated to figure out it is all in all quite nice
(I'm not a fan of "drop-buttons" but many pages use them. For people who
are "mouse-control challenged" these are a disaster). Leicester also well
represents the rugby home pages of the UK which have, by and large, improved
dramatically over the past two years.
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SCIOTO VALLEY has long been one of the rugby leaders
on the web, consistently putting out an excellent product. It has one of
those "entry pages" I was whinging about, but it's an entry page that actually
has a good message that sells their club to you and makes you actually want
to learn more about them
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Philadelphia-Whitemarsh has an excellent page. Very
quick to surf and with ALL areas covered for their club. The "beyond
rugby" area is especially good and shows a rugby club really is family!
Well done, PWRFC Webmaster!
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| Manhattan
RFC |
| Leicester Tigers |
| SciotoValley |
| Philly-Whitemarsh |
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| REGIONAL PAGES |
The
key to any Regional page is first and foremost, information. Does it give
their member clubs and players the information necessary to keep them informed
and make their rugby jobs and lives a little easier.
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The EASTERN PENN RFU has long been providing a tremendous
web service to their members. They stuff it with up-to-date information and
make it easy to find. It uses drop down menus as the web gods intended (short,
manageable lists!) and provides great service, although their links menu
is rather weak.
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The RFU is awesome, but with their resources they
should be, methinks! The menus are all around the page and take some figuring
out, but the over all look and service is fabulous. I should mention that
most all of the National websites are looking good these days, including
those for
NZ, Scotland and
Wales, in particular.
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The OHIO RFU is also a very slick, very informative
page. They have managed to get a very good look AND an amazingly fast load
time. All the information their Union members might want or need, too.
|
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| The
RFU |
| Eastern
Penn |
| Ohio
RFU |
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| COOL CONCEPTS |
These
are just some pages I like for various reasons, some totally unrelated to
their web pages being good, bad, or otherwise
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The FOUR MICKS RUGBY T-SHIRTS is a company that collects
great designs from around the world and puts them on a T-Shirt of the Month.
You join the t-shirt club and they send you a new t-shirt every month. The
quality of both the design AND the t's is fabulous (I've been a member for
years). You may have to overcome your thought that you "must have been there"
to collect the T, but you'll be glad you did, they're a great
value!
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IRS Rugby is, well, go visit the site.... you'll
see!
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The Rugby Reader is a collection of just a bit off-beat
(and fun) writings.
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Goff on Rugby is mostly for the North American rugby
fan who wishes to keep up with the happenings over here on a daily basis.
A well done service.
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There are many, many great rugby-news pages out there,
and I don't recommend one over the other here. Check 'em all and then just
keep comin' back to your favorites! For us in the States, it's the web-based
Goff and the always solid Rugby Magazine.
|
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| 4-Micks
T-Shirts |
| IRS
Rugby |
| The Rugby Reader! |
| Goff on Rugby |
| European
Rankings |
| Rugby Relics |
| Rugby
Magazine |
| The
Haka |
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ABOUT WEB PAGES: Once
Upon A Time, it wasn't so difficult sorting out the "best on the web". A
few pages were very good and the rest were mostly, well, crap. Today it's
nearly impossible to pick the "best". There are many, many excellent web
pages out there of ALL types. But, I know what I like, and that's what this
page is about. It's not complicated, it's not rocket science. The key is,
as noted webmeister David Thoreau once said, "simplicity, simplicity". Which
in web science means the following:
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Fast loading: Speed goes hand in hand with simplicity.
The faster the page loads, the more likely people will stick around to actually
look at the content.
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Easy maneuvering: Ya have to be able to figure a page
out without frying brain cells. This usually means clicking obvious buttons
or links to get where you're going.
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Good content: This is, of course, critical. The page
MUST have stuff of interest to your readers, and lots of it! Most people
go to web pages looking for the simple things. What is going on; When is
it happening; and Where might I find the event and hook up with me mates.
Of course it's also a place to catch up with what has happened with our club
or in the world, and we don't mind an interesting story or two, and maybe
a little gossip, but mostly we're looking for information.
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Links: The page should have contact information for
the important people easily accessible. This means club or union officers
AND the webmaster (this is a web page, after all). Smallish, less professional
pages actually seem to often do better with this as the "fancy pants" pages
often forget to provide this critical info, or have it buried so deep you
never get to it without a search warrant and a posse.
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Often updated: No one is coming back to your page
unless you have new information from time to time. It's also a good idea
to archive the old information, especially articles, so people who come back
looking for it can find it. Remember, the consumer is always right!
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Creativity!: Being unique and creative is always a
plus! Some of the new fad of cookie cutter pages prevent this, and they do
serve a purpose and I love that these "web services" make it possible for
any and all clubs to get on-line, but they're not likely to win tips of the
hat for creativity.
The two most oft repeated mistakes in webmanship seem
to be, 1) getting too fancy or 2) failing to update your page. Which leads
me to the things I hate about some web pages:
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OVERLY fancy graphics, and especially pictures, make
for slooow loading pages. This may be fine for your hard core fans who will
wait out a blizzard (or tropical storm, depending on your region) to read-up
about their favourite team, but it's nooo gooder for the rest of the world,
including and especially potential NEW fans or NEW players. Most web surfers
don't like waiting more than, oh, 15 seconds for a page and its contents
to come up so they can start perusing it all. Making them wait for oversized
graphics or banners showing how bloody clever you think you are actually
defeats the whole purpose of your web page. Unless the whole purpose IS to
show how bloody clever you think you are, then never mind...
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"ENTRY PAGES": What the heck is the point of these
things, anyway. There are some really good pages out there utterly ruined,
methinks, by these stupid entry pages that show nothing but a team logo or
some other such clever thing and then make you "click here" to continue.
Oh sure, they're kinda cool the FIRST time you visit, but after that they
are simply annoying, annoying, annoying... and make the likelihood of revisits
less, less, less.
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POP-ADVERTS: It's very, very tempting to not even
bother linking schumuck pages that use these services. I know, I know, it
covers cost and give you free web space. Well, my web-headed friends, it
ain't worth the price! These pages are not only hugely annoying, they are
essentially advertisements that say "oh please don't visit here again for
we shall continue to assault you with these stealth pop-up attacks until
you're convinced to stay away from here!"
So that's about it for my current musings on the topic.
Might I also say that, without any remorse, I feel these suggestions should
only apply to YOUR pages. As for me, well, I'll do as I damn well please!
:-)
Please feel free to make any and all suggestions you
wish to the webmaster of these pages, including some you believe to be
anotomically impossible, or at least highly improbable. Making suggestions
for web pages to consider for inclusion below IS the best way to get me to
look at 'em. I may include 'em, I may not, but it's a lot more likely I will
if you, dear reader, make the suggestion. E-mail icon is at the right, or
send to: Wags40@aol.com |
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