Webmaster

Webmaster’s Report 2023

Webmaster’s Report 2022

Webmaster’s Report 2021

Webmaster’s Report 2020

Webmaster’s Report 2019

Webmaster’s Report 2018

Webmaster’s Report 2017

Webmaster’s report 2016

Webmaster’s report 2015

Webmaster’s report 2014

Webmaster’s report 2013

Webmaster’s Report 2023

At the AGM in May, Janet Garnett, the Association’s long-serving webmaster, stepped down from that role. The Association owes Janet a huge debt of thanks for managing its on-line presence for so many years while simultaneously filling a number of other important roles. The Association elected Jon Warbrick from Little Shelford in the Cambridge District as its new webmaster.

Since the AGM there have been various minor changes to the website to make important information easier to find and also to make the site a little easier to manage. News and announcements relevant to the entire Association continue to be added to the front page when the webmaster is made aware of them. Some out-of-date information has been removed or archived, but more work is needed in this area and some further restructuring would be beneficial. Links between the Association and District websites have been checked and updated where possible.

As well as running the Association website, the webmaster is responsible for other aspects of the Association’s on-line presence. This includes the Association’s on-line events calendar, the management of all @elyda.org.uk email addresses, and the ElyDA shared Google filestore. Email provision has recently been transferred to a commercial ISP and, in addition to providing ‘role’ addresses for Association and District officers, and email aliases for Tower Correspondents on request, can now provide addresses that forward to groups e.g. to provide committee mailing lists.

The webmaster is also responsible for providing Districts with blank membership certificates for new members and for printing and distributing 10, 25, 50 and occasionally 60 year Long Service certificates.

For more information about any of these services please contact webmaster@elyda.org.uk.

Jon Warbrick

Webmaster’s Report 2022

A quiet year for the website, with no structural changes and a few cosmetic ones. Layout facilities in Google Sites continue to improve, with better options for spacing and fonts, but it is still difficult to integrate pictures and text in a compact layout.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. Use of the website this year has increased by about 15% from 2021. The average number of sessions per week was 69, with peaks of use in mid-April and late August. The means of accessing the website in 2022 were almost unchanged from 2021, with 56% of sessions from desktop computers, 38% from mobile phones and 6% from tablets. In 2022, compared to 2021, a greater proportion of users were located in the UK (68% vs 54%) with similar proportions in China and the USA (11% and 4% vs 11% and 6%).

The shared Google Drive, available for any Ely DA use, is also managed by the webmaster and has seen increasing use this year. There are separate folders for each district and subcommittee, and folders can be added as required. Named people can be given access to each folder and its subfolders so that, for example, there is a shared spreadsheet used to arrange and record details of each Stretham REC session. Please contact the webmaster for more information about using the Google Drive if required.

I would like to thank the District webmasters, District secretaries and Stretham REC administrators, for looking after the websites and calendars which provide most of the information about towers and events in the Diocese, and everyone who has helped with keeping the Association website up-to-date and useful.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s Report 2021

The implementation of the Ely DA website on Google New Sites has continued to evolve in minor ways. Additional formatting facilities are now available, which will allow the layout of some pages to be improved. The Huntingdon District website has been temporarily unavailable, so details of the district officers and towers, extracted from the 2020 Annual Report, are available from the Ely DA website and provide the destination for links to Huntingdon District towers from the Dove website.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. Use of the website this year is reduced compared to a normal year, and very similar to the use during most of 2020. The average number of sessions per week over the year was 90, but this conceals peaks of 462 and 762 sessions in the weeks starting 21st March and 11th April, presumably reflecting interest in Ringing Recovery. The average number of sessions per week from May to December 2021 was 67, compared with 74 in the same period of 2020.

This year has shown increasing use of mobile phones to access the website. Overall, 55% of sessions were from desktop computers, 40% from mobiles and 5% from tablets (the comparable figures for 2020 are 60%, 30% and 10%). In 2021, 54% of users were from the UK, with 11% of users from China and 6% from the USA. In 2020, 87% of all users were from the UK, with none recorded from China and 4.6% from the USA.

I would like to thank the District webmasters, District secretaries and Stretham REC administrators for looking after the websites and calendars which provide most of the information about towers and events in the Diocese, and everyone who has helped with keeping the Association website up-to-date and useful.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s Report 2020

The conversion of the Ely DA website to Google New Sites has been carried out, as the current platform (Google Classic Sites) will be turned off in September 2021. Google New Sites provides ‘responsive scaling’ to present the same web page on a phone, tablet or desktop computer. As a result, the layout options are extremely limited, and several web pages requiring tables are now provided as links to files on the Ely DA Google Drive. The menu structure of the website has been revised, to give a simpler structure with fewer high-level entries.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. As expected, use of the website is reduced this year. The total number of sessions is down by about 33% - an average of 106 sessions per week compared to an average of 156 sessions per week over the previous three years. Access to the website from desktop computers shows a somewhat smaller reduction than from phones and tablets. 87% of all users were from the UK this year, with 4.6% from the USA compared to 4.1% in 2019.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s Report 2019

Use of the Google document archive for the Association has increased over the year and there is plenty of space available. Users have been reassured that storing a document in the archive is completely separate from making the document available on the website, though master copies of some documents available on the website, such as the Regulations, are stored in the document archive.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. Use of the website has decreased this year compared with 2018, returning to similar levels as in 2017, probably reflecting the extra use in 2018 related to Ringing Remembers and ringing for Armistice 100. For example, in December 2018, there were 378 visitors to the site (compared to 512 and 324 in December 2018 and 2017) and 510 visitors in November 2019 (compared to 704 and 333 in November 2018 and 2017). For the year as a whole, the average number of sessions per week in 2019 has been 158 (179, 130). The variation between weeks has been smaller than last year, with maximums of around 220 in three weeks in February and March and minimums of around 110 in two weeks in April and September.

This year, 89% (83%, 88%) of visits were from the UK. The proportion of visits from the USA increased slightly to 4.1% of the total (3.7%, 3.6%). The next most frequent visits were from South Korea (1.7%) and Australia (1%), followed by France, Ireland and Germany. In 2018, the total percentage of visits from outside the UK was greater, and countries providing over 1% of visits were France (5.3%), USA and South Korea (1.9%). The use of mobiles and tablets, compared to desktop computers, has increased this year, continuing the previous downward trend in desktop use. 53% (61%, 61%) of visits were from a desktop computer. Most of the increase went to the use of phones rather than tablets with 30% (22%, 20%) of visits from phones and 17% (16%, 18%) from tablets.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s Report 2018

With the implementation of the new structure of the Ely DA General Committee in 2018, the webmaster has become a member of the Administration subcommittee. This subcommittee is responsible for, among other things, record keeping and archives. A separate document archive has been set up, with directories for access by the districts and subcommittees as needed. This is now used for the master copies of documents such as the membership application form and safeguarding documents which were previously kept on the website.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. Use of the website has increased this year compared with 2017, especially from June onwards and with a peak in November, suggesting that the extra use is related to Ringing Remembers and ringing for Armistice 100. For example, in December 2018, there were 512 visitors to the site (compared to 324 and 395 in December 2017 and 2016) and 704 visitors in November 2018 (compared to 333 in November 2017). For the year as a whole, the average number of sessions per week in 2018 has been 179 (130, 151) with maximums of 279 and 268 in the first two weeks in November (4th – 17th) and a minimum of 74 sessions in the last week in December.

This year, 83% (88%, 86%) of visits were from the UK. The proportion of visits from the USA remained almost constant at 3.7% of the total and other countries with over 1% of visits were France (5.3%), and South Korea (1.9%). In 2017, countries providing over 1% of visits were USA and Brazil. The use of mobiles and tablets, compared to desktop computers, has remained almost constant this year, with 61% (61%, 72%) of visits from a desktop computer. Use of phones compared to tablets has continued to increase slightly this year, with 16% (18%, 13%) of visits from tablets and 22% (20%, 14%) from phones.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s Report 2017

Changes to the Ely DA website have been relatively minor this year, with updates to the structure of the teaching and learning pages and new links to them in the header to the Home page.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. Use of the website has declined slightly this year. For example, in December 2017, there were 324 visitors to the site (compared to 395 and 379 in December 2016 and 2015); the average number of pages per visit remains at 1.9 as in previous years. For the year as a whole, the average number of visits per week in 2017 has been 130 (151, 146) with a maximum of 199 in a week in May and a minimum of 88 in a week in September. Comparing the statistics for 2017 with those for 2016, the general level in each week is similar at around 110 visits per week, but 2017 has fewer weeks with a much larger number of visits.

This year, 88% (86%, 80%) of visits were from the UK. The proportion of visits from the USA remained constant at 3.6% of the total and the countries providing the next highest numbers of visits were Brazil, Australia and France (Russia, Canada and Germany in 2016). The use of mobiles and tablets, compared to desktop computers, continues to increase and the actual number of visits from both mobiles and tablets, as well as the proportion, has increased this year. In 2017, 61% (72%, 80%) of visits were from a desktop computer, with 18% (13%, 10%) of visits from tablets and 20% (14%, 9%) from phones.

I would like to thank the District webmasters and District secretaries for looking after the websites and calendars for each district which provide most of the information about towers and events in the Diocese, and everyone who has helped with keeping the Association website up-to-date and useful.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s report 2016

New to the Ely DA website for 2016 is an interactive map, using Google Maps, showing all the towers in the Association. Tower location icons indicate the district, number of bells and whether rung regularly, not rung regularly or unringable; the description of each tower includes a link to the tower page on the relevant district website. This replaces the static map of towers with practice nights which was prepared for publicity purposes and was becoming increasingly out of date. The map is available to the district websites, and the scale and centre can be set so it shows the area of one district or the location of a single tower. The Ely and Wisbech district websites make use of this, so, starting from the website page for one tower, a user can easily navigate to the website page for a neighbouring tower, even if that is in a different district.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. Use of the website has probably settled down to a fairly steady rate, after growth in 2015 and 2014. For example, in December 2016, there were 395 visitors to the site (compared to 379, 313 and 216 in December 2015, 2014 and 2013), with an average of 1.9 (1.9, 2.3, 1.9) pages per visit. The average number of visits per week in 2016 has been 151 (146, 100, 80) with a maximum of 287 in a week in January and a minimum of 89 in two weeks in March and September.

This year, 86% (80%, 89%, 89%) of visits were from the UK. Visits from the USA were down to 3.6% of the total (6% in 2015) and countries providing more than 50 visits were Russia, Canada and Germany (Russia, China and Japan in 2015). One statistic which may show a continuing trend is the platform used to access the website. In 2016, 72% (80%, 83%, 83%) of visits were from a desktop computer, with 13% (10%, 10%, 9%) of visits from tablets and 14% (9%, 7%, 8%) from phones.

I would like to thank the District webmasters and District secretaries, for looking after the websites and calendars for each district which provide most of the information about towers and events in the Diocese, and everyone who has helped with keeping the Association website up-to-date and useful.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s report 2015

There have been two developments to the Ely DA website this year. With the establishment of the Stretham Ringing Centre, this has been given its own page, at the top level of the website menus and with a simple URL for publicity purposes. A general online calendar for the whole Ely DA has been set up using Google Calendars. This includes events for the Ely DA and all Districts, also Ely DA committee meetings, Stretham REC events and Young Ringers events. The calendar can be filtered in various ways so that, for example, the complete list of times when the Stretham REC is not available is shown only on the Stretham REC booking page.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. For example, in December 2015, there were 379 visitors to the site (compared to 313 and 216 in December 2014 and 2013), with an average of 1.9 (2.3, 1.9) pages per visit. The average number of visits per week has been 146 (100, 80) with a maximum of 257 in the week up to 9th May and a minimum of 87 in the week up to 29th August.

Over this year, 80% (89%, 89%) of visits were from the UK. Visits from the USA were up to 6% of total, and visits from Russia, China and Japan all increased to about 50 each. In 2015, 80% (83%, 83%) of visits were from a desktop computer, with 10% (10%, 9%) of visits from tablets and 9% (7%, 8%) from phones.

I would like to thank the District webmasters, for looking after the District websites which provide most of the information about towers and events in the Diocese, and everyone who has helped with keeping the Association website up-to-date and useful.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s report 2014

In 2014, the Ely DA website has continued to provide a repository of Association-level information with links to the four District websites where appropriate. A new website for the Ely DA Young Ringers has been implemented, to include information about forthcoming meetings, reports on past events and contributions from the Young Ringers themselves. In addition, there is now a separate website for the Ridgman Trophy Ten Bell Striking Competition, and this is referenced from the Striking Competitions page of the Ely DA website. Minor restructuring of the website has provided a separate page for the Recruitment and Training Subcommittee.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. For example, in December 2014, there were 313 visitors to the site, with an average of 2.3 pages per visit. This compares with 216 visitors to the site, with an average of 1.9 pages per visit, in December 2013. The average number of visits per week has been about 100 (compared with about 80 per week during 2013) with peaks in advance of Association events. Over this year, as in 2013, 89% of visits were from the UK, with a wide spread of countries providing the remaining 11%. In 2014, 83% of visits were from a desktop computer, with 10% of visits from tablets and 7% from phones. In 2013, the same proportion of visits was from a desktop computer and the remaining 17% of visits were almost equally divided between tablets and phones.

I would like to give my thanks to the District webmasters and to everyone who has helped with keeping the Association website up-to-date and useful.

Janet Garnett

Webmaster’s report 2013

In 2013, the websites for the Ely DA as a whole were updated to move District-level information to the individual District websites. The website for each District now includes details of the towers, officers and ringing programme for that District, as well as news, reports and other information of interest to the members of the District. The Ely DA website was reimplemented using Google Sites and now provides a repository of Association-level information with links to the District websites where appropriate.

The Ely DA website has been used to give advance information and reports of Association events, including 10-bell practices and the two training events held in 2013, to publicise information from the Central Council, and to display news and articles of interest to the Association as a whole. The Safeguarding documents have been updated this year, and the resulting documents are all available from the website in a consistent format.

Statistics of website use are collected by Google Analytics. For example, in December 2013, there were 216 visitors to the site, with an average of 1.9 pages per visit. The average number of visits per week has remained fairly constant over the year at about 80, with spikes and troughs in the visits per day. Over the year, 89% of visits were from the UK, with 5% from the US and a small number from Australia, Canada, etc. 82% of visits were from a desktop computer, with the remainder equally divided between tablets and phones.

I would like to give my thanks to the District webmasters and to everyone who has helped me with setting up and maintaining the Association website.

Janet Garnett