Change is in the air.  Just like life being fluid, responsibilities of this website is a little fluid.  As the creator of the website, I have worked to establish a site that that our state Patriot Guard Riders can be proud to share and use.  I recently had the opportunity to mentor an collaborate with the New Hampshire Patriot Guard with their new website.  They have used our site as a foundation for their new website.  Their website continues to evolve.  You can see their site here:  http://www.nhpatriotguard.org/

After reviewing their website I felt our buttons on our site looked to “cartoonish”.  Also, I have been reading many articles that the background image detracts from the main purpose of the site.  The goal of any website is to make the information clear, useful, non-eye tiring, and effective get the sites out.  The background has a tendency to detract from the message you are trying to convey.  I am currently seeking opinions of leadership whether or not to leave the background image up or not.  As you can see there is currently not a background image.  Our goal is to make our site look as professional as possible.  Once a decision as been reached I will share the conclusion.

As you might have noticed some of the buttons on the website have been changed.  The goal is to make all buttons consistent with each other.  I have a few more to make, but eventually they all will have a consistent appearance – which should also contribute to a more professional appearance.

Finally, I have reached a decision it is time for me to step back into the background in regards to the website.  The Social Media Manager has spoken to the Social Media Team.  As a team they have stepped up to take over the responsibilities of the website coordination.  I will become part of their team and will take guidance from the Team Manager.  This change will not be immediately, but in a transitional process.  This opportunity has been quite an opportunity for me and I appreciate leadership instilling the faith in myself to get this site up and running.  But it now a time for me to fade back into the recesses of the background.  Stand-by for further updates and announcement of the final transition.

Thank you,

Carol Casey

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

You may have noticed that of recent the postings of our missions on this site have been running a little behind or even delinquent. This glitch and delinquency is directly related to my professional time commitments I am in the knee deep right now.

The time for things to be back on track is tentatively August 19, 2012.

What is important to note is everything here on the site has not changed. Our site has a strong foundation and more than adequate information to the public and members. As long as the members are on the state email distribution for mission announcements we are covered. I apologize for this glitch at this time. I am confident the situation will be resolved by the tentative projected time.

Remember….if you have questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
Carol Casey
ConnecticutPatriotGuard@gmail.com

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

It was brought to my attention there was a problem with the Google Documents, especially “How To Join Us” directions.  After investigation, the issue stemmed from Google’s new storage system.  I have upgraded to Google’s new storage system.  I then logged out of everything, came to this site, clicked on the button of “How To Join Us” and the process seemed to worked well.  No log in was necessary.  I was taken right to the document that has the directions of how to join.  Hopefully this glitch as been resolved.

Remember….if you have questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
Carol Casey
ConnecticutPatriotGuard@gmail.com

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

Pleased to announce the actual navigational buttons have been updated.  The goal is to make them more 2D to 3D – within reason.

A “Newsfeed” RSS has been established on the right hand side to enable News Announcements to be more prevalent and will be maintained current.   Because of this new RSS feed on the site, the news button on the left hand side has been removed.

A new navigational button has been established for “News Archives” and can be found on the left hand side of the site.  This will include the older, out of date news announcements.

At the bottom of the site, “Recently Updated Pages” has been added.  The email that is sent to those who subscribe to the site updates only includes new posts, not pages.  Unfortunately there is not a way to include the “Recently Updated Pages” to the subscription emails.  Therefore, if new pages are added, they will be included in a “Site Updates” message – which is a post format.  If there are changes to the pages, these changed pages will be included in “Recently Updated Pages” area at the bottom of the site.

Remember….if you have questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

 ConnecticutPatriotGuard@gmail.com

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

More buttons have been updated.

Ride Captain’s Log has been added.

Added Pictures for Pasquale “Pat” Fririhio, US Army Korea War Veteran, Shelton, CT; 3/23/2012

http://tinyurl.com/7ov3rth

Remember….if you have questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
Carol Casey
ConnecticutPatriotGuard@gmail.com

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

In the goals to improve the site, we are growing and evolving. We now have a form for people to use to request a mission. It is directly accessed through the “Request Our Services” button on the front page.  Here is what the form looks like:  Request Services Form

The “Request Our Services” has been changed and I am looking for feedback. I am trying to make the site look as professional as I can. I plan on finding updated buttons that appear more 2D or 3D. I will be working this step by step. If you have any suggestions or ideas, I am very interested in them. Please contact me.

Remember….if you have questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
Carol Casey
ConnecticutPatriotGuard@gmail.com

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

Albums of recent missions are now posted in the gallery.  It was not as successful as I had hoped to just share the link from Facebook.  So, from here forward I will do my best to also post the pictures in our gallery.

If other articles from the media are available, they will also be posted as well.

The delivery time for the RSS feed emails has been changed to be sent out between 11 PM and 1 AM, this will help you get the information as early as possible.

There still appears to be some difficulties in maneuvering around the website, especially in “How to request our services.”  Will be working on making this even more prominent.

Also still working on a generalized form to be completed when someone wants request our services.  This form will enable the people who are requesting our services to have a little more ease in providing information to us.

The contact information of all leadership as been updated to reflect recent changes. Leadership Gallery has also been updated:  https://picasaweb.google.com/105351109573343704750/Leaders#.

Ongoing pending projects:  1) Connecticut Cruiser Articles  2)  Addition of certificate jpgs in the gallery for those heroes we help to get onto the memorial registries.

Remember….if you have questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
Carol Casey
ConnecticutPatriotGuard@gmail.com

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

A new area has been added to our website. We have added a brief introduction and background of our Annual Fundraiser.  Additionally we have added an area for any news related an area for Annual Fundraiser News.

There is also a navigational button

that has been added to the left side of the site, right underneath the National Patriot Guard site navigational button.

Remember….if you have questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
Carol Casey
ConnecticutPatriotGuard@gmail.com

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

New addition to the website – Connecticut Cruise News Special Correspondent

Remember….if you have questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
Carol Casey
ConnecticutPatriotGuard@gmail.com

The goals for these posts: Behind the Scenes

February 15, 2012

Modifications have been made to the RSS feed for the Current Missions and their method of rotating the most recent posted to the top of the list.

Current missions have the category of “Current Missions.”

To help facilitate improved removal from the RSS feed for Current Missions, some tweaks in the category assignments.  Hopefully this will significantly decrease confusion in that “Current Missions” will not include past missions.

Past missions will be moved to the Category of “Mission Archives” and you can find these in one of two methods:

Thank you