Member Services - Support

WOW Database sites for D11 North Sites!

There is a database website for every unit on the national server.  A unit may choose to use, not use, or use in combination with the current unit site.  There is generic content for the home page which will be deleted, once an announcement is posted.

The two elected leaders and Staff (SO & FSO) may edit the site by using the AuxDirectory login, then click on configuration.  There are up to sixteen pages available which may be selected "Edit Navigation Menus."  When making announcements, select the "Category" of menu.

The WOW Manual is available on the configuration screen.  As there are no outside links going to these sites, experimentation is advised to determine the best usage.  Training sessions are available during PCA Fair and Webinar classes.

FIRST STEPS: BEGINNING YOUR WOW PUSHBUTTON WEBSITE            

Before you think about any content, you should set your basic WOW site to a "minimum configuration", and then build from there. Note that the default site is enabled with numerous pages and features "turned on", for demo purposes.

To set the initial minimum configuration, proceed as follows:
     1. Log in with member credentials (Member Number & AuxDirectory Password)
     2. Click "Configuration" on left menu
     3. Click "Edit Navigation Menus"
     4. Uncheck: "What's New", "Training", "Members Only", "Uniform", "Calendar"
     5. Click "SAVE Menu Items"
     6. Click "Return to Unit Page"
These and other menu items may be added, once content (Announcements) are created

WOW WEBSITES - YOUR PERMANENT (CANONICAL) URL AND ITS USE

During the development and beta test phase of the Websites Without Webmasters system, the actual location of the WOW platform is on an Auxiliary development server. This is so that the occasional problem does not affect production Auxiliary applications running on production servers.

However, the final URL of your WOW site (the link that you will publish for people to reach your site) is available, and should be used now. This is called the "canonical" link because it follows a very specific rule (a "canon") for its creation.

The general format of a WOW URL is: aDDDddff.wow.uscgaux.info, where the DDD is your three-digit district number, the dd is your two-digit division number, and ff is your two-digit flotilla number.

For example, for Flotilla 12-03 in our district (113), the canonical WOW URL would be:a1131203.wow.uscgaux.info. If you are familiar with the URL convention for AIRS sites (Auxiliary Internet Resource System), you will note the only difference is the insertion of the .wow subdomain in the URL.

For Division WOW sites, simply drop the "ff", such as a11312.wow.uscgaux.info for Division 12.

You should always publish the canonical URL in any literature or in any links on other sites.  Also, you should never publish the development URL (currently "dev02.cgaux.org/generic/index.php?flo=DDD-dd-ff"), and you should advise your members (and visitors) that if they make a favorite/bookmark of your site, they should manually change that bookmark to use the correct, canonical URL above (on Windows browsers, right-click the bookmark, select "Properties", and change the link as above.

Although some find it awkward that a browser shows the development URL as opposed to the canonical URL that was entered to get there, it will be necessary to live with this "redirect" behavior until WOW is certified for, and moved to, a production server.

WOW USER'S MANUAL AND OTHER COLLATERAL                                     

A simple user manual or "quick start guide" for WOW is availble from the WOW production website.  In addition, a PowerPoint presentation is available for Division staff officers to tailor for presentations to the flotillas in their AOR. The "stock" national presentation is also available as a PowerPoint show.

These documents may change from time to time, so re-download them periodically.

Resource: WOW User Manual [Version 2] (pdf; 10p)

Resource: WOW PowerPoint Presentation [National; edit for local use]

Resource: WOW Presentation [National version] (pps;2.2MB)