About the Troop 97 Website

Principles & Beliefs. Our website and our troop support the fundamental principle of free speech. Recognizing that some free speech can be offensive, we also want to assure our visitors that this is a family-friendly website, as shown by the "Cybersitter Approved" logo above. We believe the content is appropriate for children of Scout age, and our site is registered with ICRA (Internet Content Rating Association) as being free of foul language, nudity or sex, violence, and gambling, drugs, and alcohol.

Purpose of Site. This web site has three aims:

to provide useful information to the Scouts, leaders, and families of Troop 97, and to potential or future members of the troop;
to provide helpful ideas and information to other Scouts and leaders of the Boy Scouts of America;
to offer ideas and information of possible use to Scouts and Scouters from around the world.

Youth Protection. Because of the open nature of the World Wide Web, we must regrettably have a policy not to disclose family names, addresses, phone numbers, or e-mail addresses of our Scouts or leaders, except the Scoutmaster's name and troop e-mail address.

Page Editor. Our web pages are created and maintained using Macromedia HomeSite. While "WYSIWIG" editors (like Microsoft FrontPage) typically hide the underlying code (and usually limit your ability to control the code effectively), HomeSite offers full control over page code. (Previously, we've used FrontPage, Hot Dog, and even the MS DOS editor back in the early days).

Browser. We pre-test all pages on the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, and also on Mozilla Firefox, the two most popular browsers. All page code has been validated as fully meeting the newest W3C standard for XHTML 1.0 Transitional, as shown by the two banners displayed below (the "transitional" version is designed to allow a level of backwards compatibility with older browsers).

[W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium, the international group that coordinates Internet standards. Their website provides free and automated validation of page code and style sheets. XHTML 1.0 (released in 2000) is the current standard for HTML code, beginning the transition from HTML 4.01 (released in 1997) to XML-based pages that have greater functionality on the vastly broadened Internet of the near future (not just PCs, but also cell phones, televisions, cars, and wallet-sized wireless communicators). By validating our pages to W3C standards, we ensure that our pages will display correctly on your browser to the entent that your browser adheres to W3C standards.

Design Principles. We have tried to make navigation simple and understandable, by using a comprehensive yet simple left-side menu (which is the same on every page). In addition, we provide a full sitemap and alphabetical index. All pages use the same template for consistent appearance, and we use a single master style sheet (which ensures that all pages use the same fonts and other styles, and which also make it quick and easy to change style elements across the entire website).

Volunteers/Approvals. This is the official web site of Troop 97 BSA (Fort Collins, Colorado, USA). All contents are copyright Troop 97 unless otherwise stated. The site is the creation of the volunteer webmaster (Scoutmaster Jeff Snowden) and other volunteer Scouts and Scouters associated with Troop 97. Our site conforms to the WWW policies of the BSA and the Longs Peak Council BSA, as listed on the Longs Peak Council website.

Accuracy. We believe the contents of this website to be factually accurate, but we cannot guarantee accuracy or up-to-date information. If you believe that something is not accurate, please e-mail us (with the correct information, if you know it), and be sure to tell us which page is in error.

Language and Measurement Standards. With an international audience, we try to conform to accepted international standards for the English language. Spelling and grammar follow US practices, as recommended by Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, and the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition. Measurements are displayed in both the international metric system (SI) and the US-customary system. If you find a typo, please e-mail us so it can be corrected.

Linked Sites. This website links only to other Scouting-related websites, and does not link to personal websites (which is not allowed by the website policies of the Longs Peak Council BSA). All links are checked from time to time for appropriateness, and we will remove any inappropriate link. If you become aware of an inappropriate link, please let us know right away.

Advertizing. You won't find ads on any of our web pages. We do not accept advertizing, and we believe that the ads found on many Scouting websites (placed by their "free" hosts) are intrusive and often inappropriate for a Scouting audience.

Website Statistics. In February, 2005, we began using a free website statistical package called StatCounter (www.statcounter.com), and we've been happy with the results. The free package (actually paid for by advertizing on the StatCounter website—NOT on ours—and by subscriptions to their premium services) provides several services:

The most accurate hit counter we've seen (because it counts unique visitors regardless of where they enter our website)—previous counters counted only visitors who entered through our homepage. Since most visitors find a website via a search engine, they typically enter by pages other than the homepage. As a result, we now know more accurately how many people are actually visiting our website (right now, over 12 000 unique visitors/month). You have the choice of displaying the counter or not (we've chosen not to display it).
Other statistics that help us understand what people want from our site and which pages they are visiting (or not visiting). This includes a list of most-visited pages, where visitors came from (which search engine, for example), what search phrase they were looking for, and many more useful statistics.
The statistics do NOT give us private information about our visitors, only city/domain.
For example, we know that over 80% of our visitors come to us directly from Google, that most use either Microsoft Internet Explorer (77%) or Firefox (19%), that in a typical month we get visitors from all 50 US states and from over 80 other countries.

Awards. While there are dozens and dozens of awards on the Web, we are especially pleased and honored by the three special awards below.

The international Lord Baden-Powell Award for Scouting Excellence on the WWW recognizes some of the best Scouting-related websites, and has awarded this site with their highest honor (four "fleurs" for the World Scouting fleur-de-lis badge).

EVALUATION TEAM
The Lord Baden-Powell Award
For Scouting Excellence on the WWW

The StudySphere Award of Excellence (an international, non-Scouting award) recognized our website "as one of the best educational resources on the Web" (7/06). "StudySphere uses a combination of intelligence-based search technology and old fashioned human intelligence to find, review, categorize and maintain its enormous collection of information-rich websites."

The StudyWeb Academic Excellence Award (an earlier international, non-Scouting award) also recognized our website "as one of the best educational resources on the Web" (12/00). Unfortunately, StudyWeb has since become a members-only (password-access) website for schools, so we can no longer link to it!

StudyWeb Academic Excellence Award

Scouting under Attack. The Boy Scouts of America has faced repeated legal challenges in recent decades relative to the "3 G's" (God, girls, & gays). Many in the public look at Scouting solely as an outdoor and camping organization that should welcome everyone without regard to any standard. But the BSA requires its members to have some sort of belief in God. It requires Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting division youth members to be males (leaders can be male or female, and the Venturing division is fully coed except that girls are not allowed to earn the Eagle rank). And it bars membership to anyone who leads an openly gay lifestyle. As a result of the "relentless legal assault and publicity barrage since 2000 when the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the organization's First Amendment right to freedom of association" [Scouting magazine, September 2004], the BSA has created a website to specifically address the legal issues confronting it. This website "includes fact sheets and answers to frequently asked questions about various cases and legal issues; copies of legal filings in important cases; and news clips and opinion aritcles from respected journalists and scholars." [ibid.]

United Way. A number of United Ways across the US have reduced or eliminated funding for Scouting, usually in response to pressures from the gay community. The Scouting Legal Defense Fund's website maintains a list of these United Ways.

Characteristics of a Good Website

Here are the three broad areas that we believe contribute toward a quality website, listed in order of importance.

Content—This is what people come for (and return for). If your content is inadequate, having a great looking page won't matter, because few will visit, and no one will return.

Functionality—The page has to work. To look right on any browser. To load quickly.

It must be easy to navigate (to figure out where things are), with a good menu(s) and a sitemap.
It should conform fully with current W3C standards for HTML (either HTML 4.01, which has been the current standard since 1998, or better XHTML 1.0, the newest standard as of 7/00).
Font commands should NOT appear in the HTML for any of your webpages (they're supposed to be on a cascading style sheet—check the W3C website if you need to learn about style sheets or current HTML standards). By eliminating font commands from your HTML pages, your pages become smaller, load quicker, and become consistent. And changes are easier to make.
Make sure images and other "bells & whistles" load quickly and do not detract from the content.

Appearance—Note that this is listed last, not first. After you have great content, and after you have pages that function perfectly, then make them look attractive and interesting.

Make sure any background does not detract from text and images, or make text hard to read.
Make sure the layout/style/fonts/etc are consistent on all pages.
Make sure spelling and grammar are absolutely correct (and any website that expects an international audience—and that's most websites—should ensure that spelling and grammar conform to an accepted international standard—in the case of English, standard US English or standard British English are the two international standards).
Don't overdo the showy, glitzy stuff. A little goes a long way. Too much slows down the page, and distracts your visitor from seeing your message.