AIA-SWO’s New Website

AIA-Southwestern Oregon executive director Don Kahle and webmaster Erik Bishoff have taken the wraps off the chapter’s shiny new website. You can find it at www.aiaswo.com. 

 

Improving AIA-SWO’s online presence had been a chapter priority for the last few years. Don would be the first to admit that the path to the unveiling of the new website was bumpy at times. Among other things, attempts to link it with the national AIA database proved frustratingly difficult. 

 

So, Don and Erik have instead rebuilt the AIA-SWO website upon a user-friendly WordPress platform. As reported in the latest Thursday at Three e-newsletter, this is more “stable and solid” than the static html engine that powers the now obsolete www.aiaswo.org site. The bottom line is a “superior look and feel,” along with “greatly improved” usability. 

 

As enumerated in the Thursday at Three news article, the features of the new site that are notably improved include the following:

• Featured news items are now front-and-center on the index page slider. No more hunting through text links for the latest news and events.
• A new calendar feature keeps members apprised of the latest chapter events, including updates from AIA-SWO and DesignSpring. You’re now able to conveniently check out what meetings, Lunch & Learns, and tours are taking place.
• The Thursday at Three AIA-SWO weekly newsletter will continue to be distributed to all members by email, but is also now archived to the AIA-SWO website.
• AIA-SWO members can sign up for email notices that announce when new information hits the website. This will be a great way to know about updates as they happen.
• Have something for sale? Looking for a job? Do you have an office to rent? Request a posting on the AIA-SWO bulletin board.
• Social media links—Twitter and Facebook now; Pinterest and LinkedIn soon to come—are featured prominently on the home page.
• Most importantly, the new AIA-SWO website incorporates a direct feed from my blog! My latest posts now appear simultaneously on both SW Oregon Architect and the AIA-SWO website. I’m honored to have my blog featured so prominently.

At the moment, the old site at www.aiaswo.org remains live even though the new site at www.aiaswo.com is ready for primetime. Don and Erik will soon consolidate the two such that the new site takes over the .org URL.

 

Don and Erik are justly proud of their achievement. Check out the new and most definitely improved AIA-SWO website yourself. I really like the changes and I think you will as well.