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Introduction to the District 21 Website Tips on the District 21 Website How the District 21 Website is organized? How to find a Unit in Distirct 21? Introduction to the District 21 Website By Michael Nistler If you have access to the Internet, I’d like to welcome you to come see the new District 21 website. After reviewing all 25 ACBL District sites, I presented the finding to the board on how we compare to the rest of the pack. Here’s some of what you’ll find at the new industrial-strength website: Tourney Info: Schedules, All about Duplicate, Players Guide, Duplicate Laws, Convention Charts, Contest Conditions, Alerts, and relevant links to the ACBL website. District 21: Personnel contact info, GNT/NAOP, District Rep reports, and links to Unit websites. For those units not having their own website, we will maintain a webpage for them with officer and club information. References: Convention card download info and ACBL links to Library, Education, and numerous other topics Intermediate/Novice: Easy to digest info for newcomers, how masterpoints work, access to free instructional software, help finding an instructor, all about duplicate bridge, etc The site also has features including online searching for obscure or archived information and a site map providing a graphical layout of the website. Of course, we appreciate your suggestions on how the site will best support you; so please e-mail me at mailto:bridge_hands@yahoo.com with your suggestions. Look for more information about our website in a future article. By Michael Nistler D21 Internet Coordinator Well, it’s been a few months now since we opened our new District 21 website at: http://www.d21acbl.com Business has been great; we serve over 3000 users each month, with the average user viewing four pages per session. Aside from the home page, which web page would you think is the most popular during April? In second, third and fourth places respectively was the Unit Map, Tournament Schedule, and Results. Our hottest page for April was the Grand National Team page! Be sure to check it out to see our winners. On that note, we find many players are enjoying the opportunity to review the online “recap” sheets from the sectional tourneys. Here’s a few tips on how to become a “power user” at the District 21 website: When unsure where to find something at the site, perhaps a reference to your name, try using the powerful “search” feature. Simply enter the keyword and press the “Start Search” button. Of course, if you enter a unique word like “Meltzer,” you will get fewer “hits” than a word like “Smith.” Come see our D21 Tourney Schedule to see a chronological schedule of our upcoming tournaments, along with an online flyer containing specific tourney information. If you’d rather venture out of our district, we also have links to the ACBL and Contract Bridge Forum sites for the latest on the NABCs, as well as all regionals and sectionals. See the “Tourney Info” section of our home page. Our Tourney Results is a great place to view a list of the overall winners at each of our tournaments. The results are organized chronologically by tournament (most recent are at the top of the screen). And if you care to see your board-by-board results, we also have “recap” information available for your analysis. We will also keep you posted with results from special events like the GNT and STAC. Care to contact someone associated with our district? Then the District 21 Personnel page is the place for you. You’ll find names, phone numbers, and often e-mail addresses of our helpful staff. Whether you’re new to duplicate or a seasoned player, we have reference information at your fingertips. Our link to the ACBL Convention Card is always popular and if you need to check out a bridge law, we have the complete Duplicate Lawbook at our site. If you care to dig deeper, we have an abundance of information: Alerts, Rulings, Convention Charts, and much more, especially for our newcomers. Incidentally, while most website users are “local folks,” we get visitors from almost all states and a dozen or so different countries. So when you’re on the road or have a friend that would like to visit us, remember that our website is never more than an Internet connection away. If you need help or have a suggestion, you can always contact me at bridge_hands@yahoo.com.
About your Browser - If you are using a "version 3" or above browser, you should be able to browse (surf) the District 21 website. Most browsers in use today are Microsoft's Internet Explorer (or a variation like AOL). Netscape, the first browser to enter the marketplace, is now a distant second in terms of usage, while Opera and other new browsers are emerging. Version 3+ browsers support Java, the programming language used by most web developers. Here's a list of the web browsers frequented at the District 21 site (scroll down). Unfortunately, the ACBL website uses some Java programs that only work with newer browsers such as Netscape version 5+ and Internet Explorer 4+. When possible, I've tried to copy their content over to the District 21 site. However, where they have dynamically changing data such as the nationwide tournament schedule, I've included links to the ACBL website. If you have such a problem where you've been redirected to the ACLB website, you'll need to upgrade your browser (free): Anyway, I've stayed away from templates, hover buttons, Cascading Style Sheets, and other browser-dependent gadgets whenever possible. How to find a Unit in Distirct 21- Look here for a nice map of the Units in District 21. You can either click on the "hotlink" picture of the Unit or click on the alphabetized list to the left of the map. For Unit who maintain their own websites, you will be redirected to their site. For others, the District will maintain a one-page website containing key personnel information as well as data about their Clubs. District
21 website organization - The
District 21 home page has a large matrix with
many places to go --
quite a busy page, but the utility approach saves keystrokes and reveals
more goodies. As I mentioned above, I've copied a fair amount of ACBL data and added it to
this site (ACBL Laws, etc) so when you click on those links, you'll be
directed within the District 21 website. The data organization is
fairly flat, without a lot of drill-down pages to find the information.
Near the top of the home page is a
which
should help you find obscure information (perhaps references to someone's
name). And if that doesn't work, try giving the
Site Map a try, which provides a graphical
orientation of the District 21 webpages. Each page should have a
How to write for help - When all else fails, EMAIL me. Please be specific with your questions, including:
If you click on my name at the bottom of any page, it should open up your EMAIL and pre-populate a message with my EMAIL ID and contain a Subject Line with the name of the current webpage. Good luck and happy browsing!
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Last modified:
10/13/06
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