New Website Launch!
We are pleased to officially launch the new MRCG website!
Please make a note of the new web address, as the old site will no longer have fresh content added to it (though we will continue to monitor and maintain it for a period of time).
Here on the new site, you’ll find a fresh logo, timeless colors, the usual news and information about the MRCG, and a new way to pay dues, donate, and pay for your annual symposium registration.
The front page tells a little about the organization, presents the opportunity to join, renew, or donate, and then shows a “Featured News” section that will always have the most current year’s Annual Symposium post displayed. This can be changed later to feature other articles when we have anything else exciting to feature outside of Annual Symposium season.
Below the “Featured News”, you’ll find the most current posts and the category tags for easy navigation by subject.
The Blog Roll, which was on the right side and fairly out of date, has been moved to the main navigation under Resources -> Links of Interest. (I’ve updated any outdated links and removed any fully closed sites from the list.)
There are two Members Only areas featuring past symposium abstracts, the most current newsletter, and the member directory. To access these areas, you’ll need the new 2022 password. Renew your dues today for access or you can renew tomorrow together with your Early Bird Annual Symposium registration.
Other exciting updates include much easier Membership Dues Renewal/Join MRCG and Annual Symposium Registration pages. Early Bird registration opens tomorrow, August 1st! See the 2022 Annual Symposium page for more details.
You’ll go through a standard checkout process that looks much like any commerce site you’ve visited. When you are adding items to your cart, the cart icon will appear in the lower right corner of the screen in a blue box. Check your spam box if you do not receive your confirmation email and make sure to select “not spam” for future automated emails from our website.
Please note: you will need a PayPal account to process your dues through this page. Unfortunately there was no way to modernize and streamline this process AND provide the ability to not use a PayPal account without causing additional complications. This was out of our hands and is entirely controlled by PayPal. (I have included the mail/check process on these pages, so if anyone prefers or needs to pay dues/registration the traditional way, you are still welcome to do so and we will continue to offer this option!)
I’ll be writing a more in-depth article for the next newsletter describing the build process, design decisions, some of the exciting back-end features that will make the lives of current and future Board Members much easier, and details on some of the logistical issues we solved along the way.
One small housekeeping note: The transfer of data from the old site was smooth, but not perfect. If you go back far enough in the news posts, you’re very likely to come across poorly formatted (but still legible) posts. I will be working through those from most recent to oldest to make sure that eventually they will all be tidy.
Also, if any of you have high resolution images of previous MRCG symposium group photos (from any year!), please send them my way at mrcg.webmaster@gmail.com. I used what we had available that was high enough resolution, but many of the images we had were just too small in resolution and dimension.
And finally, if you happen to come across any glaring errors or omissions, please do let me know: mrcg.webmaster@gmail.com.
Please explore, enjoy, and let us know what you think!
