Brand new Pack 163 website

If you’re reading this then you probably know that this is a brand new website for Pack 163. I wanted to spend a little time to describe why we’ve changed the site and what we hope to accomplish.

First, let’s remind everyone that Kevin Stephens set up the initial Pack 163 website a few years ago. That site had a lot of features that people liked, including links to photo libraries and a calendar. Most importantly, there was a wealth of information about Scouting, hike information, events, and more. Much of the info from the old site has been incorporated here (or, will be soon…). The old site is archived for your perusal.

One of my main goals for redesigning the site was to make it even easier for families of potential new Scouts to understand what we’re all about. That is why there are prominent Join and Contact tabs at the top, as well as links to current and past events. Our Join page describes the cost for joining our Pack but also where to get uniforms and other supplies, for example.

I also felt the blog format would make it easier for both new and existing families to see “what’s new” and thereby visit the site more often. The inspiration for this comes not from my past blogging or even from my professional experience as a Web Producer. It actually comes from our Tiger Den leader Julie Crossman (my wife) who has blogged extensively. If she can blog about something that is happening in our lives, then she can blog about Den meetings or other events in her Den. And if she can blog, so can our other Den leaders and committee members…

It’s easy to blog and therefore we can hopefully keep everyone in the Pack updated with what happened in the past, what’s happening in the future, and maybe even what’s happening right now. And that’s really the big difference between this new site and the old one: because this is based on a blog platform it will allow more than just the “webmaster” to update the site, which means we have a much better chance of keeping everything up to date.

So, please kick the tires here at the new site. In the coming days we’ll be adding more pages, including the backlog of Trail Trekker pages. Down the line we may have a page dedicated to each Den, too.  Please pass feedback to your Den leader or directly to myself (kevin@kevdo.com).