SSLASonline.org Updates

7.18.2012 - Dang!  It's been a while since I've updated the update page!  The new calendar program is GONE!  (YES!!)  We now use Night Sky Network and the calendar is automatically copied into the page.  We've updated the template many times since 2007.  The latest updates included a nearly complete update of the past meetings page.  The only titles and links not complete at this time are those that don't have a page on the site.  Eventually I'll update the old pages from newsletter descriptions and place them on the website.  Eventually we'll update the website to a WordPress format.

6.7.2007 - Hmm, well someone had to go and point this page out to me again!  It's just not high on the priority list!  New Calendar program installed and working well.  the program is icalendar desktop 2007 and it works great.  I can install multiple users for access to uploading SLAS events.  Working on a redesign using a free program to test color schemes, etc.  Suggestions would be welcome...  Ok, back to work here, enough of updating the updates page!

11.17.2006 - Well, time for the biannual update for the updates page. No new pages, but links for past meetings were worked on and updates for the current meetings were addressed. The events page will be updated next and a program will be purchased to record the library books soon. We will then post a list of the materials available from the library. Back to the grind!

5.18.2006 - Yikes!  I should probably update the updates page a little more often!  hmmm
Well, we got the NEW SLAS site started, but had to delay because of time contstraints and the fact that Louis Berman is MOVING !  (we will MISS you Louis!)  However, the site moves on!  I will be doing a lot of work on the site soon... school is almost out!  We did upload a really nice shopping cart for the convention registration and the convention is coming up SOON!  Be sure to sign up!

1.3.2006 - Started the process of converting the links that go to external sites to open a new page instead of replacing the SLAS page.  This will be more convenient for those on systems which take a while to load.  It also will allow people to explore the SLAS site while looking at others at the same time.

12.31.2005 - Added a list of links to local clubs to the "Other Clubs" page at left.  If you have more clubs you would like to see links to on this page, please let me know. Added Gregg Ruppel's astronomy page to the links page.  Added more clear sky clocks and a link to the seeing conditions forecast page from Allan Rahill to the weather page.

12.30.2005 - Added some SLAS member pages to the www links page.  Bill Breeden, Joe Bohannon, Jim Melka.  Please send more links of SLAS member pages if there are some out there.

12.29.2005 - Added two news sites to the news page.  Spaceref.com is an extensive news resource that covers all aspects and has well defined and catagorized indexes of other sites for news.  One of those sites is Marstoday.com which I also added because of the interest in Mars for our group.  Spaceref.com also has compiled pages for other planets and lots of other areas.  Enjoy!

12.23.2005 - Added a star party page.  This page lists most of the national and regional star parties SLAS members are interested in.  The descriptions are organized by month, the column at the right is alphabetical.  If you have other star parties to add to the list, please email me at the address to the right. The index, meeting and events pages were also updated to reflect current calendar information.

12.15.2005 - Added a news page.  More links will be added soon. Louis B and I discussed some of the features of the new web site that is coming. 

12.14.2005 - All of the pages are now updated for the new template. The observation and links pages are now also converted. New pages for local university departments and observatories, links to other clubs, links to astronomy organizations were added. The vendor links from the old links page were move to the vendor page. Many vendors and manufacturers have been added to the vendor page. Added an html version of the SLAS Web Resource Guide. More to come folks, more to come... keep clearin' the history in your browser so you're not looking at old pages!

11.22.2005 - Ok, the hardest switch has begun. I redid the template to an HTML template instead of an ASP template because we really don't have an ASP site! I just didn't know any better or notice when I created the original template. Now that it is finished, all of the pages will be appropriately updated. This will also allow me to speed up the updating of the rest of the site. I was stalled because I didn't want to create any more pages on the old template. Some bookmarks will need to be changed if you have bookmarked the pages with the old names. Hopefully this will be relatively painless. There are currently about 12 pages with the old asp name and format. I will change them over as fast as possible. Do not bookmark any of the asp pages from here on out.

8-10-2005 - Updated news on the index page for Shuttle and MRO mission scheduled originally to launch Wednesday. Will continue to work on vendor pages, and will add a club page and an observatory page to the site.

8-4-2005 - Updated news on home page, removed past SLAS events from appropriate pages.

8-2-2005 - Uploaded vendor links page and sky links page. These pages will be modified frequently as time goes on. The plan is to not have all the links on a single page as I have in the past. The goal is to not have more than two clicks from the home page loading to get where you need to go. Reorganized the Join SLASdialogs page to the new format. Updated news items on the home page. Deleted files that were no longer in use from the site. (no, you can't read the election platforms from a year ago any longer!)

8-1-2005 - Added meeting information to the home page and meeting pages. Added a MSRAL 2006 Convention page. Updated the links in the navigation on the left. Updated the Events page. Added a page for the Principia College Perseid Meteor Shower Party.

7-30-2005 Added a starbq page. Started a vendor page but haven't posted it yet. Feel free to try it out and send me links to post. Added stories to the home page, including info about the Perseids. Go ahead, just TRY and keep up with the changes on the site!

7-28-2005 Added a vendor page. Beginning to reformat the links pages. Created a current meeting page containing announcements, directions and detailed meeting information.

7-27-2005 Added a weather and clear sky clock page.

7-26-2005 Fixed problems with text display at top of pages when viewed with firefox... had to change file type to asp so FF would know what kind of page it is. Fixed some minor glitches in the template. Added a page to list appropriate discussion groups that SLAS members might be interested in. Will do more page conversions this week as well as create some new pages for weather and other important topics.

7-25-2005 Ok, it's about TIME! The newly formatted SLAS web site has finally seen first light! A lot of time was spent on the templates for this site in an effort to make it efficient and very user friendly. Please let me know how it is working for you and send me any comments you might have. The logos are links, the line under the header will track your path through the site, all links are in blue, all visited links are in red. Much work is in the future to update all of the pages in the site, so come back frequently to see what's changed! If you have pages to submit or information to relay, please contact me. If you have breaking news in the astronomy world, alert me so that I may update the page. I'll have access to update the site from both home and school, so updates should be easier now.

6-30-2005 Man, it's REALLY been a long time for updates. Currently working through the list Cook Feldman asked me to do to update the website! Almost finished with round one Cook! Round two will come sometime later this week or early next week. I'm working on the template for the new look for the site and will convert everything once it's finished. One aspect I'm working on is a new format for links. If you have seen really effective links pages, please forward a link to the page above so I can view a variety of different formats that might be efficient.

5-28-2004 Ok, so it's been a long time since I've updated the update page! School is almost out and I am no longer president of the society, so things should start clicking for me on the web site. I have a tentative template which I am working on for the complete redesign of the web site. I'm looking forward to finishing that off so we can really start to move forward with the web page. I plan on making it your one-stop site for all things astronomy. News, links, and other items will be new features of the web site in addition to expanded pages for the society itself. I'll look forward to all of your suggestions.

11-20-2004 Updated index page with current meeting information, including the announcements page. Checked the links page and discovered about five links that need to be checked and see if they still exist somewhere. Not too bad considering the number of links on the page. I'm still looking for more variety of links, so if you have suggestions for additions and/or categories, please send them. A notice was put up this week on the passing of a dearly loved member of SLAS, AL Woods. A tribute to AL displaying some of his work and a presentation about his life will be made by Pam Woods at Homemade Fest. I checked through some of the other pages and eliminated a couple that were not serving our purpose.
JRS

9-19-2004: Well, there HAVE been a few updates since the summer of 2003, I just haven't been updating the update page!!! This time around I have made the following updates: Information on the home page was made current and all links were checked. All of the links on the www links page were checked and removed if out of date or not working. The board meeting page was updated. The announcements page was updated. The new members area was cleaned up and a couple of links that were bad were removed. Since we haven't had any updates for articles since 2002, the cool astro news section was removed. A synchronization was also performed and many pages that were no longer linked were removed. In the process of removing these extraneous pages, some links or other items in the web site may no longer be valid. If you find any problems, please let me know about it at the link above. The next major update for the site will most likely be converting the site to a frames site where the links are maintained automatically on the left or elsewhere on the site. If you have creative suggestions for the site, please let me know at the address above!
Clear Skies,
Jim Small

This page is maintained for the St. Louis Astronomical Society by Jim Small, webmaster for SLASonline.org. To send comments or suggestions, please email me at

webmaster@slasonline.org