from http://www.ncaonline.org

The National Center on Accessibility has developed a one-hour e-course as an introduction to the principles of Universal Design for park and recreation practitioners. The free course is offered through the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands online learning site: www.parktraining.org

Here is my January list of resources for web design. These may be for the more technical visitor, but the concepts are applicable to everyone.

Photoshop Tutorials
Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - Best Of
How To Create Web 2.0 Effects With Photoshop
Creating A Cool 3D Web Design Effect

Web Design and Usability
Web development tips: Ten (or a few more) files every Web site needs
2008 Color Trends
Color and Typography in Good Design
9 Essential Principles for Good Web Design
45 Fresh, Clean and Impressive Designs
15 Cool Website Footers with Great Usability
7 Things you don’t see in Websites today
53 CSS-Techniques You Couldn’t Live Without
Inspiration Package: 60+ Usable & Elegant Designs
Resources For Web Design
Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design

So you have a list of websites, maybe in your “favorites”, you visit daily, weekly, or just occasionally. Great. You log on to your computer and visit each one, check if there is anything new to read, read it, then rinse and repeat until you get through all the sites. What if there was a better way? What if there was one place you could go to to read the new articles, blogs, events, etc. on each site? What if you didn’t have to go to each and every site to check if there was something new and only be disappointed when your efforts retrieved no new content?

Good news! There is a better way.

Enter “Really Simple Syndication” better know as RSS and usually represented by a logo similar to those seen below.

When you see any of these logos above, you can click on it to get access to a site’s “RSS feed”. A feed provides a way for an RSS Reader to get access to a feed of information from that site. By plugging that feed into an RSS Reader, your reader will then display all items attached to that feed within the context of the RSS Reader.

So, why should you use RSS?

• The news and articles from your list of sites come straight to your feed reader, a time saver.
• Ability to organize the content you read. I like to think of an RSS Reader as being similar to your email inbox, but instead of messages, you get web content. Similar to email, you can organize the website subscriptions into folders.
• Avoid subscribing to list-serves that clutter up your email.
• Some readers now have the ability to share interesting articles with your friends. If your friends use the same reader as you, they can see articles you recommend.

How do you get an RSS Reader?

My favorite RSS reader, and the one I use daily is the Google Reader. The nice thing about Google Reader is the ability to view content when you are offline. Additionally, it is free to use, is web-based (no software to install) and integrates with your Gmail log-in (if you have one). Some other good readers include:

• Google Reader http://www.goolge.com/reader/
• SharpReader http://www.sharpreader.net/
• FeedReader http://www.feedreader.com/
• Rojo http://www.rojo.com/
• Many More http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Internet/Clients/WWW/Feed_Readers/

How can you provide visitors of your website with RSS feeds?

The best way to provide RSS feeds to your readers is to develop your website using a Content Management System (CMS). I will be writing an article soon with additional information on selecting and setting up a CMS.

If you do not use a CMS or your CMS does not have the RSS feed feature, you are not our in the dark. You will simply have to create your own RSS file and update it every time you add content to your site.

Coming Soon:

• Content Management Systems
• Constructing an RSS file for your website.
• Mashups
• Blogging for your Organisation: What and Where?

Other Resources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS
• http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/rssandlivewebfeeds/f/rss.htm
• http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html

One of my favorite Web 2.0 videos. It’s a little fast, so hang on and enjoy.

Welcome to the Park and Recreation Technology Blog… parkrectech.blogspot.com

Thanks for visiting. I hope to provide valuable content here for those tech savvy or not, who are looking to stay up to date on technology or looking to improve the state of technology in their organizations. While the articles here will be aimed toward park and recreation professionals, they should be applicable to a much broader audience.

You can expect to hear about new and old technology here and how you implement thing in your organization such as blogs, wiki’s, pod-casting, RSS, and other new technology. I will also write on topics relating to marketing to and engaging the public with Web 2.0 technology.

Hope you enjoy the blog, and please provide feedback through the comments and/or messaging me through my profile.