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The web site for the British Gliding Association needs to do many things;

• attract potential glider pilots and guide them through the information they need to learn to glide and to find a club. Much of this information has been made easily accessible from the front page - these are the people that need to be caught within their first few clicks.
• communicate with the 9000 active glider pilots in the UK
• communicate with the 90 member clubs
• repository of information about all angles of gliding, including instructing, technical and competitions
• reduce office workload and overheads
• sell merchandise, and other services

As such, the web site is constantly evolving and growing. Currently, the site contains some 450 pages, and a further 500 pdf documents. Many of the updates are done in house using Macromedia Contribute, although due to the complicated nature of many updates, some are done by us. Within the site are a wide variety of functional components including;

• competition entry system, which collects entry information and fees, and when the entry date closes, can sort all of the entries into competitions. This data can then be sent to the entrants and host clubs in an easy to use spreadsheet. When paper based, this process would take at least 2 weeks, and the data was not in electronic format. Cost savings have been large, in terms of man hours, photocopying and mailing.
• accident database, with login system. The database is updated by a volunteer via a simple web form only accessible via his login. The data can be viewed by the public via a published login.
• shop
• free email subscription service. This service helps to inform the member clubs and glider pilots of a variety of categories of news. Subscribers can choose which emails they receive, whether it be the monthly newsletter, technical news or many others.