Ideas for updating this website.

[Dixon Jones]

I appreciate Nick volunteering the designer of Motorola's website (which Motorola site?) - but I think it's only fair that he realizes the economic realities of a club of volunteers! This will be largely a labour of love I would imagine! Mind you... if he helped build your Sumo..

Don't get me wrong - I'll certainly appreciate the help as long as he's comfortable knocking around MySQL databases or building around this CMS (since we'll need one or the other!).

If we are looking at design, then if we are going to get a decent design, I would prefer to throw the look and feel into a competition site that I have used many times, which has created sites like my personal blog at www.dixonjones.com and http://99designs.com/web-design/contests/web-design-established-solicitors-33475/entries/51 because we get 50 designs from around the world and as a group we just get to pick one instead of mission creep.

Blending a design into a content management system with databases, pictures and all the rest of it is not easy for me though. I own a company that could do it - but never for the money, so we need to use an opensource or inexpensive cms for the backbone whether you like it or not.

Separate point - can people list the urls sites they are referring to? It's not always clear which ones you mean.

[jigsaw]

I think you are losing the point of this site nick this is a club site not pilgrims web site
its for club members to chat and keep in contact as for the color Dixon likes orange  .

[Robin]

I like the existing site so only two things I would suggest:-

1) Photo log of cars say by version ie Sumo/Bulldog/etc so can see different solutions, ideas, colours etc

2) Keep it simple!

Only three things!!!

3) Larger 'memory' to allow faster/easier download to the site of photos.

Robin

[Robin]

Perhaps a link to any Sumo sites as they don't seem to respond to this one! It might encourage them to get involved more.

[John dee]

Dixon your bright orange site has created interest and active forum members and as such it is spectacularly successfull. But if we are moving to an era when the for the majority of members the web site is their main reason for being in the club and we have some pennies to do a revamp then we should go for it. Keep it simple but make it look flash

check out the www.xkec.co.uk
As non members you can get on this site and play around but to full members the site is huge

We should Restrict the ability of non members to post on the forum and to use a few other valuable features but make the availability of these feature very obvious and desirable.

Enable payment for various items to be done online and where appropriate incorporate standing orders.
(membership, regalia and even insurance if it could be pulled off with a provider)
This should be relatively straight fororward through a simple Paypal account for the club.

John

[Michael]

Great site...

- The search function does not alow to search for "V6" for example. 
- What happend to all the old discussions we had in the old format?

I will post more as I find them - but anyway great site.

Regards,
Michael

[chrissmith]

How about increasing the allowable file size for attachments?

I usually have to crop my photographs before they will be fit.

[Mahin]

An archive.

I just touched on this in the thread on body colour.

There is evidently a lack of useful historical information from Pilgrim which is understandable given the history there, so it would be nice if members could contribute what knowledge they have to help build up an knowledge base.

The starting point, and a common query it seems, is "What mark is my Bulldog?"
So the entry point would be a gallery of photos or diagrams and key feature list to enable members to identify their particular Bulldog mark (or even specific vehicle, I'll come to that later).
Click down and it will give details of when produced (and numbers if possible). Chassis variations etc.
Then it would tell which donors were used and a "how to" guide to parts identification and where to get them.

Like many owners, I would guess, I bought my Bulldog from some one else who got it pre-built from some other person and so a lot of the useful information is lost.
I need to replace some of the bushings on the suspension  and I don't have a starting point. (I saw a likely picture in one of the threads but ....)
Of course, I could take it to my local garage but that isn't the point is it?
The point about owning a Bulldog is that while you may have missed the pleasure of building it would be nice to be totally self reliant when it comes to maintenance. These cars are still, mechanically, in the pre-computer era of engines and electronics. That's not all good news, we are also well mired in the days of the Prince of Darkness, Paul Lucas so when the brake lights flash when you turn on the left indicator, it is a nice bit of fun fixing it. 
Another feature would be workarounds for bits that are hard to find and modifications.
We get a lot of brake pedal travel. The brakes work fine but the mechanic says it may be the pedal setup . Is this an original equipment problem or what?
Upgrades and modifications that owners have done could also be a feature. Owners could also compile their own step by steps guides to renovations and modifications (I don't recall seeing a Haynes guide anywhere) and a *dpf of build manuals would be nice. That is one thing we got with our car, the build manual. I would be quite happy to make up a pdf file on this, subject to there being no copywrite problems from Pilgrim.

To the extent that it is possible it would be nice to build up a history of individual vehicles. A new owner could look up the details and history of his vehicle, subject to past owners agreeing or agreeing if they can remain anonymous if necessary. AN current owners could maintain the history.