Creating Your Chapter/State/Region Web Site

1. Present information that is unique to YOUR area. For example: state and local court information, links to area information, etc. Be sure to promote any products or services that your chapter/state/region provides.

2. Be sure to put your contact information (name of chapter, address, telephone, fax, e-mail address) on every page of your site. Remember that pages get printed out, and if you do not have contact information on each page, the person that printed it will have to turn their computer back on, log onto their Internet service provider, and go back to your page to find out how to reach you.

3. Remember that NALS is an organization of professionals. The pages you create will give off an impression: Loud and zany? Pale and wan? Splashy and jumbled? Select good colors and avoid red/green combinations, they may cause problems for color blind surfers. Reduce long downloading time by avoiding large graphics and too many pictures. Be sure that whatever theme, colors or fonts you use portray NALS in a professional manner.

4. Present useful information on your site. What can you say that NALS members want to hear?

5. Maintain any information you put on the site. If you are not going to have the resources or the dedicated folks to keep the information up-to-date, then simply do not put information that will need to be changed on the page. Only post the “static” information.

6. The “home” page should display the NALS logo and link the graphic to:
www.nals.org

7. If you don’t know how to make something work on your site leave it off till you learn (or till you find somebody who does know how to make it work).

8. The template provided by NALS is a “bare-bones” template with a white background and black text. You can create your own pages in any way you choose, remembering the above guidelines. Have fun!