About our new website

PCPC has had a presence on the World Wide Web for ten years now, ever since our modest beginnings at www.web.net/~pcpc back in 1999.

As our resources have expanded, so has the range of tools we can use to more effectively serve our members and the general public. The site you are now reading uses a content management system (CMS) to allow you to access the full range of our information more effectively and smoothly.

As an example of what a CMS can do — the one we are using is called Textpattern — take a look at our list of member centres. Not only is the main schools page produced from a database, but each school’s info page features a Google map (created on the fly to show the location). There’s also a larger Google map which shows all the PCPC member schools, with pop-up information on each centre.

Another major step forward is that our members-only pages are now fully integrated into the main site, allowing members to navigate freely between the password-protected pages and the public site. Our member pages have grown greatly in the past two years due to our Governance project and other value-added resources for members.

On the public site, our content has expanded as well, with new features such as our e-newsletter (you will soon be able to subscribe or change your existing subscription to our email bulletins from within the website) and a wider range of material available in both HTML and PDF formats.

Finally, this site was designed with accessibility and flexibility in mind from the start — both disabled users (blind, partially sighted, motor challenged) and people who use cellphones, PDAs, and smaller computers, will find it easy to use.

• People who want larger or smaller fonts can do so by using View:Text Size from the top menu in Internet Explorer; View:Zoom in Firefox; the Zoom button at lower right in Opera, and so on.
• For people who use screen readers, our tabbed navigation menu will render properly as a simple list. Every page is logically organized, with content at the beginning and sidebar material — related articles and so forth — at the end of each page.
• For cellphone and mobile users, a simplified stylesheet is available — this should load automatically on most small-screen handheld devices. For people using netbooks, such as the eeePC, all our pages fit on a 1024 pixel screen display, and clipping is kept to a minimum on 800 pixel displays.

PCPC member schools

List of centres »
Interactive map »

New and recommended

PCPC centre featured in Star article · February 8
Full Day Early Learning in Ontario -- Information Sites · January 28
e-newsletter 23: New Year, new projects, new information · January 15
e-newsletter 22: Risk Management · December 17
Art prints for sale · December 4

Going Green!

All 'Going Green' articles on one page »

Going Green 23 · January 15
Going Green 22 · December 17
Going Green 21 · December 4
Going Green 20 · November 20
Going Green 19: A Brief Overview of “Green IT for Dummies” · October 27

Backgrounders

Our new website »
What is a Co-op? »
The PCPC Board: Who we Are »
The Benefits of Membership »

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