The New and Improved PDGA Web Site

I am sure many of you are eager to hear what’s been happening with the development for the new PDGA web site. The project started last year when Theo Pozzy started researching open source content management systems (CMS). Open source CMS junkies ourselves (we’re using Wordpress), we were very happy to hear about the choice of Drupal as a CMS. In late November last year we had a phone conversation with David Gentry about the new site - while they had decided on Drupal, there wasn’t much else he could tell us at that time. However, once the 2008 budget was approved, the effort kicked into high gear.
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Speaking with Theo Pozzy through e-mail this week, we were able to gather some answers about the new site. The questions asked were a combination of our creative thinking, and some inquiries found on the PDGA message board from some of you…

1000 RATED: What is your background and how did you come to be taking part in this endeavor?

THEO: I graduated from Dartmouth College with a Computer Science degree in 1981, and have been doing software development ever since. I joined the PDGA Board of Directors in late 2001, and immediately got involved in their IT, since it was an area I could contribute as a volunteer. My first big project was transitioning pdga.com from Marty Hapner’s server (who owned the domain name and website) to the PDGA. After that, I undertook the next generation of the site, which involved a number of key volunteers, including Steve Ganz, Jason Haas, and Conrad Damon (there are many more). We designed and developed the key data-driven parts of the site, including the schedule, tournament results, the course directory (which was originally donated to the PDGA), etc. Then a number of us got busy in our day jobs, and progress on the site almost halted for four years (2004-2008).

1000 RATED: Talk of the new PDGA website has made some buzz on the PDGA message board. People are wondering what company is developing the site and if there was a bidding process for the development? Also, can you provide us with an explanation of what this company has worked on in the past and why the company that was chosen is a good match for a project of this magnitude?

THEO: Initially, we were going to hire a consulting firm to assist with portions of the website development work. We had one false start at the beginning of the year, and lost some time looking for another firm. David Gentry did a great job of screening a number of potential partners, and after interviews, we settled on Ciphent (http://www.ciphent.com), who appeared to be very competent and clearly had in-depth experience with Drupal (the chosen CMS). After spending some time working with Ciphent, they approached us with an alternative proposal. Rather than just doing some hourly consulting, they offered to partner closely with the PDGA to launch a version of a social networking platform they have developed, based on Drupal. We negotiated a two-year contract where Ciphent will manage our website, including adding new functionality, applying security patches and software updates, and helping us market the site. It was a very fair partnership that balanced risks and returns for both organizations. The PDGA will now have a professional firm managing and growing the website, as well as a marketing resource.

1000 RATED: With all of the professional and intuitive open-source content management systems that are available today, why was Drupal chosen as the back end for the new PDGA website? Was there a specific reason this CMS could handle all of the content and thousands of pages, or was it just a personal preference?

THEO: I did a lot of research into CMS platforms in early 2007. One of the key requirements was that it was based on the Apache web server, the PHP language and the MySQL database engine. That still left a lot of options. After quite a bit of analysis, I decided that Drupal was one of the best options to balance ease of implementation with customizability and a solid architecture. There is a large and active Drupal community, with hundreds of free (open source) add-on modules available. The Ciphent platform is a perfect example – it consists of many third-party Drupal modules that Ciphent has evaluated and integrated. While the same level of integration could have been done by volunteers, it would realistically have taken 6 to 9 months of coordination to get to where we did with a few weeks working with the Ciphent platform.

1000 RATED: Can you attach a working screen shot of the “new look” so that our readers can have a sneak peak?

THEO: Here’s the site under development. The final site will be similar, but will include newer content and additional advertising.

New PDGA web site screen shot

1000 RATED: Since former World Champion Cameron Todd’s membership is not current, we are unfortunately unable to view his stats at this time. As current members ourselves, shouldn’t we be able to view these stats by logging into the site? Will the new site have any membership benefits such as this, and can you explain in detail what some of these will be?

THEO: One of the key reasons for choosing Drupal over some of the other top candidates was the security model, which includes sophisticated authentication (passwords) and authorization (roles) support. This will allow us, in future updates to the platform, to create classes of users, including current PDGA members, tournament directors, staff, non-members, etc. We can then allow different levels of access to the site based on your role. This will finally enable us to give current members access to statistics for all members, although it will require them to log in to the site.

1000 RATED: The discussion board is a very popular part of the existing PDGA website. Will the data and passwords from the current message board be moved to the new CMS, or will the old boards be left alone and stand as is?

THEO: Initially, the only login to the new site will be to the message board. We are not going to enable registration or login into the Drupal platform until a later phase in the project. The message board will be the current software, with the look and feel modified to be as close as possible to the design of the new site.

1000 RATED: While the site is being launched, will there be any down time? Can we expect to see a 24 hour period or more where the PDGA site will not be available?

THEO: The site will definitely be down during the transition. We would like the downtime to be as little as possible, but we are relying on volunteer resources to assist with the server switch, and I’m not sure exactly how long it will take. I would expect it to be less than 24 hours, but I’m not making any promises.

1000 RATED: How will the search options be improved within the PDGA tour pages on the new site? Right now they are a little confusing.

THEO: In the first version of the new site, the tournament results and schedule will behave the same way they do now. Over time, we will be integrating those parts of the website with the site in a tighter fashion, and you will see many improvements.

1000 RATED: Another very important and popular area of the existing site is the Course Directory. Will this be updated as well? Can we expect to finally be able to search by zip code, thus generating a list of courses in our area within a chosen vicinity, or will we still have to search by state and browse the cities?

THEO: As with most of the dynamic content, the initial launch of the new site will mostly be moving the current functionality into the new site design, with little change in functionality (that would have delayed the launch by months). You can search by zip code now, so that will still be available as an option (I was testing it over the weekend).

1000 RATED: What kinds of new media will we be seeing on the site within the coming year? Will the PDGA media page be expanded at all?

THEO:Absolutely! The management of multimedia content is one of the key benefits of the Ciphent platform. They have a great search feature that will return multimedia results, with appropriate thumbnails and descriptions. This will allow us to start adding photos, video and audio content and make it easily accessible.

1000 RATED: The live scores are always appreciated, and everyone enjoys the National Tour statistics and player ratings. What else has been planned to keep the players coming back to the site in terms of coverage, stats, analysis, etc?

THEO: We haven’t looked that far ahead yet. As I mentioned in earlier responses, our initial launch is focusing on getting the current functionality working in the new site, and then we’ll be looking at new functionality. We have a long laundry list we’ve accumulated over the years, so there are plenty of ideas to pick from!

1000 RATED: What are you most excited about in terms of this new site, and what do you think the PDGA has done with the new plan to really make a positive change for the players and fans?

THEO: There are two things that I’m really excited about:

We finally have outsourced management and development of the website to a commercial firm. That’s what we do with the magazine and our membership fulfillment, so adding the website, which isn’t a core competency for the organization, makes a lot of sense. We should see major benefits from this partnership over time.

We will finally have a website built on top of a real content management system. This will allow PDGA staff and volunteers to be able easily publish new content, stories, updates, etc. to the members and disc golf community in a timely fashion. The website will have a very modern feel to it, and Ciphent will be helping us keep the site abreast of technology and business changes in the future.

1000 RATED: Our last and most famous of questions - who is your favorite 1000 rated player and why?

THEO: That’s not a fair question! I have enjoyed spending time with a lot of top touring pros and 1000-rated players. In particular I have been following Dave Feldberg’s and Avery Jenkins’ careers for years now (since they started touring as part of the Winnicrew). It’s nice to see how well they have done, and I’m really happy for Dave and his success this year. And what about Avery’s sister Val – she’s not bad either!

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***We would like to thank Theo Pozzy for taking time to speak with us during crunch time
***The provided screenshot was graciously provided by and is a © of the PDGA

Jerman #32461 on September 6th, 2008 at 11:51 am

i like the new look and feel of this site - it has come a long way when compared to the current pdga site…nice work!

David Cox on September 8th, 2008 at 9:58 am

They need to use this site as a model for theirs. Lots of detailed color photos and more tournament content. Heck….just charge them to use yours.

Allen Johansen on October 15th, 2008 at 12:12 am

I have tried to sign up and logon, you have sent the link but it will not let me in. When I go to change it it says I m already sign up

admin on October 15th, 2008 at 12:37 am

Allen,

If you are talking about the message board problems on pdga.com - Jason Allind posted a thread in the PDGA announcements area (under PDGA web site status) on 10/14/08 at 08:51 AM about how new user registration is not working and will be halted until after the new site is uploaded.

Pharm on January 29th, 2009 at 4:20 am

Very nice site!