|
| |
April 20, 2007
Tulip Festival makes work-wide web, thanks to volunteer
by Janine Calsbeek
Sioux County Capital-Democrat (reprinted with permission of Pluim Publishing,
Inc.)
ORANGE CITY – Spell-check doesn't like the Tulip Festival website.
Jeff Joiner knows. When he became webmaster, he had to learn the spelling of
Dutch words like StraatMarkt and breng ons een bezoek. He hasn't yet attempted
to list Dutch food. Saucijse broodjes?
But it has been helpful that Jeff didn't grow up with Tulip Festival, said his
wife Kay. He doesn't make assumptions... that visitors to the site automatically
know what the Dutch Dozen are, for instance, or that each province has a
different costume.
Yes, the headline for an article on Jeff could be: "Webmaster: Clueless," he
said with a smile.
But he is one-eighth Dutch. His grandma's maiden name was Huizenga, which the
family in western Illinois pronounced "Hoy-zen-gay."
He's created a great site, which has had almost 70,000 hits since February '06.
Type in octulipfestival.com and check it out.
If you're from Orange City, glance at the costume exchange page, the road race,
the link to Rene Clement's photos of Orange Citians.
If you used to live here, do you want night show tickets? Do you know what each
Dutch costume looks like? Click on "The night show" or "Dutch provinces."
If you've never heard of Orange City before, you might want to check
"Directions," and enter your address. You'll quickly find out how to get here.
It's Jeff's second Tulip Festival of heading up the website. And he came with no
experience.
"I learned on the fly."
Jeff knew biology, chemistry and psychology – his undergrad major and minors at
UNI. Dr. Joiner knew dentistry – he graduated from the University of Iowa
College of Dentistry, where he met his northwest Iowa connection, he said. Kay
Pals of Orange City was also at the U. of Iowa, studying physical therapy.
The closest he came to website design was editing the newsletter for the running
club in Sioux City.
But a few years after moving to Orange City and opening Joiner Family Dentistry,
Jeff decided to get involved in Tulip Festival. The Joiners' twin daughters were
still young, so he volunteered for a job that he could do at home, when the
girls were in bed.
A website had been started... but no one had taken it under his wing. Actually,
once Jeff volunteered, the password had to be tracked down from someone in
Oklahoma.
The software was straightforward, however, said Jeff. And he checked other
websites and determined what NOT to do. One tulip festival website was too
cluttery; "it made me dizzy." He wants Orange City's to be easy to navigate.
But he does want lots of information, for locals and out-of-towners.
The costume exchange site was a big hit last year, and Jeff even had people
e-mailing from Michigan, New York and Australia, looking for costumes. One
person sent in measurements, assuming that he sold Dutch attire.
He spent many hours on the website that first year.
Now he adds information as people get it to him. And he continues to add
history... a brief history of the festival, a list of former queens, a list of
night shows.
He's also finding ideas on the web. He googles what he wants, and locates
"pieces of code" to download and insert. He's added forms and a slide show that
way.
The photos and info on the right side of the home page are straight from the
brochure.
Last year he added some radio ads to the website; this year he hopes to add some
video from commercials. He's learned some ways to compress information so the
site doesn't take so long to download... but it's still image-intensive for
those who don't have high speed internet.
The most difficult part is organizing the site, making it simple and
attractive... but still include lots of information. No, he doesn't know the
average age of those using the site, but it's probably not tech-savvy youth.
Jeff has learned lots. In fact, he started a Joiner Family Dentistry website
after he refined the Tulip Festival one.
He'd like to encourage locals to forward him information about the Tulip
Festival, as soon as possible. And he welcomes suggestions for improving the
site... or info that should be included. Look for "comments" on the home page.
RETURN TO PRESS ROOM
|
