| Author | Message | ||
     mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 223 Registered: 4-2002 |
And by the way, today's agenda is now posted - http://www.southorange.org/agenda.asp | ||
| mayhewdrive Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 204 Registered: 5-2001 |
Thank you, Mark. Can you comment on what the following Agenda item is: "The Board of Trustees will conduct a public hearing for the purpose of discussing a Green Acres loan application from the DEP."? I also see there will be "Presentation of Village Website". Do you know what that is? Thanks for your attention on this. | ||
| mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 226 Registered: 4-2002 |
Mayhewdrive: I had to leave early to get to the meeting and did not see your post yesterday. The village administrator did a presentation of the "new website" along with what some of the goals are for continuing to enhance and improve the website. Those improvements include at one point having the residents to have the ability to complete forms on line and submit this electronically. There will also be a method for residents to be reminded of toter cart pick-ups, street pavings, etc. There is also now a non-flash version of the redevelopment page for people who did not like the flash or who did not have flash. By the way, for those who are having trouble with their flash, it seems the problem can be fixed by updating internet explorer to a more recent version (this can be done at microsoft.com) although sometimes as anyone knows, the solution for one problem can cause a new one on a computer. The village web address is www.southorange.org As for the green acres loan application, it was to secure money to rebuild the basketball court next to the Baird center. This was a project that was promised to many residents over three years ago that as soon as funding could be found, that we would renovate and improve the court. There has always been some drainage problems along with a very old foundation. The application has been submitted, but this is for a loan, not a grant so we still have to vote on whether to accept the funds if the application is approved. This project has nothing to do with the long-term recreation master plan and it has no affect on the village's ability to secure other green acres funds for other projects. | ||
| mayhewdrive Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 205 Registered: 5-2001 |
Thank you, Mark. I did catch a little bit of the meeting on TV during the website demo, but unfortunately I didn't have time to watch much. Hey...how about archiving meetings so they can be viewed online on-demand using streaming video?  | ||
| mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 228 Registered: 4-2002 |
Mayhewdrive: That was discussed and is coming but probably not before the fall. Of course, having the ability to watch on-line would also solve the problem for people who do not have cablevision. Also, at one point, department heads would be responsible for posting inforamtion for their area instead of everything flowing through one person. This would help to make sure that the situation where the agenda did not make it online in a timely manner would not happen again (well at least there would be a different reason). | ||
| Shelley Stile Citizen Username: Sstile Post Number: 18 Registered: 12-2002 |
It is totally amazing to be to see how the present adminstration is utilizing the Village Website for their own political purposes!! If we were to believe this Website, the South Orange that actually exists is a mirage! For years we have been told what is coming to this town and exactly nothing has transpired. Not just nothing, but plans for SOPAC are highly controversial and the Village continues to not fully cooperate with any independent investigations. Renderings of our new downtown are beautiful but they have nothing to do with reality. I hope people will realize that the new Website is actually a free political annnouncment on an official Village Website. Shame on you BOT ! | ||
| mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 255 Registered: 4-2002 |
Shelley: Each of the projects on the redevelopment tab (and I assume that is where your complaint lies) has a current status of the project. For example, demolition has started at the Beifus site and the constuction will start as soon as the site is prepared. By the way, this is private property and he had looked into the feasability of doing other projects including an office complex. I know you appreciate the importance of a feasibility study before jumping into a project. The Gaslight Commons project is complete and has been for several months. The church street apartments have been completed. The shop-rite project is before the planning board and that is stated on the web site. If there are any changes, they will be reflected. Trustee election is on May 13th. Vote Line A | ||
| nwyave Citizen Username: Mesh Post Number: 34 Registered: 1-2003 |
Mark, At the trustee meeting last week when the website was reviewed, I thought the consensus was that there would be something posted to the page that specifically said this was the view point of the Village Administrator. All I see is a tab that one has to click on the drop menu to enter the actual page that says "administration viewpoint". Should one read "administration" as "Village Administrator" or as "village administrator and trustees." It is not clear and I think it would be relevant for it to be more clear. With that said, (and without me reading the column carefully), do you feel what is said is the trustee/your perspective. That would help me to put it in perspective as I do read it. Thanks | ||
| mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 262 Registered: 4-2002 |
nwyave: I will bring it up to see if the board wants to clarify it more. Usually, the administration is referred to as the administrator and the Village President. The viewpoint should reflect the majority of the trustees, and I hope that will usually be the case. I will try and read the whole viewpoint section sometime today and answer your other question. By the way, if anyone has pictures of something in the village please feel free to email via the webpage as they are always looking for new pictures. Trustee election is on May 13th. www.leadershipwithvision.org Vote Line A | ||
| Elizabeth Citizen Username: Elizabeth Post Number: 137 Registered: 7-2002 |
To return to the topic of this thread: I find the South Orange website incredibly slow and difficult to use. I can't get to the "redevelopment" page either from the "contents" or from the link at the top of the home page. The ticker thing runs through the sub-pop-up menus obstructing my view of the subcategories. The submenus are extremely variable--they appear, disappear and change even when I haven't touched the mouse. The type is small and hard to read; and there's too much of this small-type text unbroken by pictures, graphics or even paragraphs. Earlier in this thread there was a complaint about some of these things and the poster was advised to "upgrade to a later version of flash." I think that's a cop out. I have a less-than-a-year-old Mac (OSX) and a cable intenet connection and I have no problems like the ones listed above at any of the websites I visit. In fact, the South Orange site is just about the most frustrating site I've been to in the past year. I'm not computer savvy by any means, but since there are millions of much-easier-to-navigate sites out there I deduce it's not all that hard to create a user-friendly, quick-loading website. South Orange is a neat place and I'd like people who are getting to know us through the internet to have a pleasant first experience. | ||
| Annie Modesitt Citizen Username: Modeknit Post Number: 17 Registered: 9-2002  |
I agree wholeheartedly with Elizabeth - I find the South Orange website so difficult to use that I avoid it. It's kind of fitting, though, because I also find a jungle of red tape when I try to navigate any service in South Orange (due to the rudeness of the window staff I avoid the Baird center like the plague now, and that's a shame because it's such a terrific resource!) Maybe the website is simply an indication of how hard it is to deal with Village government? Annie http://www.modeknit.com | ||
| mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 265 Registered: 4-2002 |
My computer is over two years old and I have had no problems with navigating the website. It appears that microsoft has a patch available on the website for those who are having problems with the Flash version. It turns out that if your browser version is significantly older than your flash version, it will not work (I found this out in a recent issue of PC Magazine) There is now a non-flash (and this only affects the redevelopment tab) version (HTML Only). If the page loads too slowly we will have to work on improving that. Trustee election is on May 13th. www.leadershipwithvision.org Vote Line A | ||
| noracoombs Citizen Username: Noracoombs Post Number: 9 Registered: 8-2002 |
I have to agree with people who find the South Orange website difficult to use--I have a very frustrating experience every time I use it. Like Elizabeth, I have a Mac--maybe the site is designed primarily for PC use? (I certainly hope that's not the case!) As far as I know, I have up to date versions of both IE and Flash, so I don't think that's the problem. I definitely think you need to work on improving the speed and accessibility of the site. | ||
| Dave Ross Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 4585 Registered: 5-2001  |
I think it's a Mac related issue, as it won't display correctly for me either. There are navigation scripts that work equally well on PC and Mac platforms, which should have been used. However, I don't think the problems Elizabeth, Annie and Nora are talking about are primarily technology-driven, but rather usability related. A few things make the site non-intuitive: use of (jarring) colors that distract attention, difficult typography and lack of a coherent layout -- obvious indicators that programmers did the design rather than designers. My view of the site...  | ||
| Dave Ross Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 4586 Registered: 5-2001 |
Do we recognize the 3rd guy from the left riding a bike? | ||
| Elizabeth Citizen Username: Elizabeth Post Number: 138 Registered: 7-2002 |
Verrrry interrrresting, Dave! Allow me to amend my earlier statement: Since every one of the hundreds and hundreds of internet sites I visit have been designed with "navigation scripts that work equally well on PC and Mac platforms," I deduce that this is a quite elementary bit of knowledge. And now I have another question. Why would a programmer have been chosen to design the site? Isn't that like getting a carpenter to draw your house plans? Frankly, I don't get it. Anyone who visits MOL knows that this town has some very savvy folks who work with computers, website design, etc. I am astonished that South Orange couldn't have produced a more professional, user-friendly website. | ||
| David Lackey Citizen Username: Davidlackey Post Number: 5 Registered: 4-2003 |
Frankly, I am disappointed that the S.O. homepage features "Leave your car at home May 14" while making you search around to find out municipal elections are on May 13. Sure, it's included as one of a dozen scrolling items at the bottom of the page, but come on. If I were a more negative person, I might be outraged since it would benefit the incumbents to keep voter turnout low. But I will give Mr. Gross the benefit of the doubt and politely ask him to give the election some homepage prominence. | ||
| mayhewdrive Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 213 Registered: 5-2001 |
Mark does look snazzy on his bike, though. Is that one of those baskets with plastic flowers on it on the front of Steglitz's bike? | ||
| mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 274 Registered: 4-2002 |
Thanks mayhewdrive. David: A resident sent in a written request for the village to promote bike to work day. She arranged to have bicycles at village hall before the trustee meeting last week and took the pictures herself. She went to a lot of effort to promote an event that most people think is a good one. In the interest of fair play, please send a picture of yourself on a bicycle and I will request that it be put on the website. I keep trying to get the vote out thinking that is my best chance, so please explain how a low turnout helps the incumbents? If you really feel that way, I will tell all those voting for your ticket to stay home. j/k Trustee election is on May 13th. www.leadershipwithvision.org Vote Line A | ||
| woodstock Citizen Username: Woodstock Post Number: 94 Registered: 9-2002 |
Hey, any chance the website could identify people and places in the various photos, even if it's just in a "mouseover?" Some of us have never met any of the town officials. And for those people living on town less than a year or two, "The old Shoprite site" or "the old Biefus site" have as much meaning as "Turn left where the red barn was before it burned down." |
