~OT: Association Websites / Members

[tjones1]

Officials:

I am in the process of creating a site for our association. We are wanting to have a member login that can login in and have a "personal page" where they can update a calendar for the dates are aren't open and see other information posted. Then an AD could login and see who is open on a date, etc.

For you programmer guru's, how do you go about doing something like this?

Thanks in advance. You can PM me if you like.

[Welpe]

You would need to have somebody that knows what they are doing with PHP (what this forum runs on) or ASP to code up a website. You would then need to host it on a server along with a database such as SQL Server or MySql.

I recommend going with PHP and MySql as they are open source so you do not have to pay a licensing fee. There are numerous resources on the web, and there might even be something pre-programmed close to what you're looking for.

Another option is to have each member setup and maintain a Google calendar at http://calendar.google.com and have them share the calendar with the AD or assigner. This probably isn't the most streamlined way of doing things but it is free and easier to setup (don't have to deal with security settings, etc).

The other option is going with assigning software such as The Arbiter, Ref Town, Zebraware, etc. My association uses the Arbiter where I can block off my availability, be assigned games, see who I am working with and our assigner can post messages for the association to read.

[Mark Padgett]

I think you should have a section where coaches can log in. It only needs to have the following info:

There are no such fouls as over-the-back and reaching!

[MikeK27]

You could also have someone who has some knowledge in ASP.net help you out. I know people who have used the Visual Web Developer program, which is free, and a template from Microsoft, also free, to get a site going with secure logins. They are hosting it with godaddy, so the SQL server resides with them, which I believe is only a few dollars a month. You would need to have somebody with programming experience get things going for you though. Might be easier to go with the prepackaged software that Welpe mentioned.

[Welpe]

Mike thanks for the info on that, I didn't (and I definitely should) realize that GoDaddy did SQL Server hosting.

[MikeK27]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Mike thanks for the info on that, I didn't (and I definitely should) realize that GoDaddy did SQL Server hosting.

I didn't know it myself until I went to them for the hosting of my wife's website. I stumbled on it by accident, but it is good to keep in mind.

[stmaryrams]

Our association's site is run by Rick Spray. I'm sure he could give you some good info. Go to ohioreferee.com to get his information

[Back In The Saddle]

As a software engineer my first question is: Why reinvent the wheel?

Software development is costly, error prone, and always, always, always takes longer than you expect.

There seem to be plenty of software packages out there already that do this. Unless you can get somebody to donate the programming of the site, and that person has a personally vested interest in seeing the project through to the bitter end, you're almost certain to be out more money if you do it yourself, and not get as good a result as what's already out there.

Just my $0.02

[JugglingReferee]

I'd recommend a CMS such as Joomla.