WELCOME TO THE ICEVI WEBSITE
Victor Tsaran- Webmaster
My name is Victor Tsaran. Currently I am a senior student majoring in computer science at Temple University, Philadelphia, USA. Apart from my academic responsibilities I administer and maintain the website of ICEVI at www.icevi.org This is why you all know me as the ICEVI’ s webmaster!
In this article I will discuss issues related to ICEVI’ s website, such as its history, purpose, structure and key features. We will walk through some examples of how to effectively use some of these features and where to turn for help in case something doesn’t work.
History:
Originally, all the general information about ICEVI and other ICEVI’ s materials were hosted at www.obs.org, the website of Overbrook School for the Blind, Philadelphia, USA. However, as the necessity for broader representation of ICEVI on the Internet grew stronger, it has been resolved by ICEVI officers to launch ICEVI’s own website at www.icevi.org. This website would host all the previous information with the extensive additions from the ICEVI regions and introduce many other features, discussed later in this article. At the beginning of April 2000 our domain name was finally registered and www.icevi.org was officially launched.
Objective:
The main objective of ICEVI’ s website is to stand as a very informative, useful and accessible resource for both ICEVI members and visitors from outside. While the website is meant to be a central point of reference to ICEVI on the Internet, it is in no way the only exclusive resource of ICEVI. Per officers’ decision, www.icevi.org should be treated as an umbrella for ICEVI regional websites or webpages. This means that mostly materials of a generic interest to ICEVI members are hosted on the main website. It is up to the regional chairs to decide what to do with their local materials– either put them on the ICEVI’ s main website or establish website of their own and be linked to www.icevi.org.
For example, the European region of the ICEVI has recently opened their regional website www.icevi-europe.org.
Structure:
ICEVI website’s entry page divides screen into three main areas called frames. The main menu is always visible on the left side of the screen. The bottom frame contains a list of ICEVI regions. The right frame is set to contain the content of the opened page. Please note that as you click on any link in either main menu on the left side or any link on the “ regions” bar, the requested content will always appear in the right frame.
Example:
1. Open www.icevi.org in your WWW browser;
2. Click either on one of the regions or on the option in the menu on the left;
3. What did you see?
Features:
There are several new features that enhance the current website. Some of these features are discussion lists, search engine and general website organization. Let us look more closely at each of the mentioned facilities.
General website organization:
The menu items in the main menu on the left side of the screen will guide visitors to any corner of ICEVI’s website. Because “ main menu” is always present on the screen, it is very easy for visitors to jump back and forth through the site.
For example, if you wanted to see the most up-to-date list of useful links, you would:
1. Open www.icevi.org in your WWW browser;
2. In the “ main menu” click on “ useful links” ;
3. View the list that appears in the right frame
on the screen;
4. Once finished, use links from either “ main menu” on the left or “ regions bar” at the bottom to continue your journey through ICEVI’ s website.
A Search engine
A search engine is a tool that allows visitors to search the whole ICEVI website by just entering keywords into an edit field and hitting the “ search” button. For example, in order to use our search engine, follow these steps:
1. Open www.icevi.org in your WWW browser;
2. In the “ main menu” on the left click “ search” ;
3. In the right frame you will see an introductory search screen with a lot of options;
4. To perform a default search of the whole website, simply type your keywords in the edit field and hit “ search” button.
5. If your search turned out to be successful, then you will see a short summary for each document that matched your search criteria. You will be able to click on the document’ s title to view the document in its full length.
6. If your search turned up unsuccessful results, simply refine your keywords and type them into an edit field and hit the “ search” button again.
7. Once you are done with the search, use “ main menu” on the left or “ regions bar” at the bottom to continue browsing through the website.
Discussion lists
Since the inception of ICEVI’s website there have been established five discussion lists already. The most up-to-date list of all discussion lists can be found under the “ main menu” ’ s item called “ discussion lists” .
On the “ Discussion lists” page you will find the list of all active discussion groups. If you are a member of one of those groups, you will be able to send a message to its members by clicking on the title of the discussion list of your choice.
Please note that since all of the lists are limited to a particular ICEVI interest group Publication committee, ICEVI Officers etc.), you have to make sure that you belong to any of these groups before attempting to post to them. Otherwise, your message will be rejected by the discussion list managing software.
For instance, if you are a member of ICEVI-officers discussion list, you could use one of the two ways to send a message to the list. The simplest one is to use your Email reader and send the message to the address of ICEVI Officers list. Another way is as follows:
1. Open www.icevi.org in your WWW browser;
2. Choose “ Discussion lists” from the menu on the left;
3. Click the ICEVI-Officers List title;
4. Your Email program should open. Type in your message and send it off.
Unfortunately, at this time there is no way to send a message to more than one list from the “ Discussion lists” webpage although I am looking into this possibility. You will have to use your Email program to do that.
Finally, to get more help on the usage of discussion lists or to report any other difficulties, contact me at webmaster@icevi.org.
Asking for your help!
Since ICEVI’ s website is a property of the whole organization, it is our joint responsibility to make sure that it stays fresh and updated all the time. Research shows that visitors like to come back to the websites if they are sure that they are going to find something new next time they visit the website of their choice. Therefore, your contributions are very much encouraged and welcome. Such contributions include:
Let’ s have these visitors come back to our website again and again!
Best wishes,
Victor