itfnz.org.nz - Better Than Ever!

Mark Banicevich, IV dan
Co-editor, Taekwon-Do Talk

Have you ever visited the ITFNZ Taekwon-Do website on the internet? If not, you are missing out on something awesome! If so, have you visited the ITFNZ Taekwon-Do website recently? The new look website was released on 2nd June, and it is better than ever!

In this article I show you how to find your way around the website. To do this, I describe some of the key navigation features. I also outline things that are different from the old site.

Where do I find stuff?

The website homepage is pictured to the right. This page has a number of features, pointed out in the picture:

1. The main menu bar. This is described more fully below.
2. The keyword search. If you are looking for something in particular, enter a word here to search for it.
3. Instructors Only login. Instructors can enter their password here to enter the Instructors Only pages.
4. What's New takes you to a page with the latest updates. If you are a regular visitor, this is where you go for the new stuff.
5. Contact takes you to a page with ITFNZ Taekwon-Do's contact details.
6. Click this icon to sign the Guestbook. You can view the entries to see comments from people around New Zealand and the world.
7. Click on the Sponsors to go to a page about our major sponsors, like Epson and Web World.
8. Latest news items with live links.

The menu bar

The menu bar can be found at the top of every page. This makes it easy to get to any page on the site from any other page very quickly. Click on an item in the menu bar to go to that page, or if you hold the mouse over a menu item, a number of submenu items appear. Click on a submenu item to go straight to a submenu page. The diagram on the next page shows you where to find things using the menu bar.

Other pages

All of the other pages have the same format (pictured below). The menu bar appears at the top of the page, as do links to the guestbook, contents and search pages. The items from the menu bar appear at the bottom of the page, too, but they don't have submenus down there. There is a little green icon to take you back to the top of the page, though.

The left side of each page has a submenu, the same as the submenu from the menu bar for the current selection. For example, if you are in the News section, the left menu has News, Regional News, Taekwon-Do Talk Magazine and News Archives.

Sometimes on the right side there is also a sub-submenu! This is a short list of things you will find in the current submenu pages. For example, if you are in the Taekwon-Do Talk Magazine pages, the sub-submenu has links to Current Issue, Back Issues, Key Articles, Advertise and Subscribe pages.

The last menu feature is the breadcrumb navigator in green under the menu bar on each page. This shows you where you are on the site, you can click on any item in the breadcrumb path to return to it.

Oh, and on any page, if you click the ITFNZ logo in the top corner, it will take you back to the home page.

What's different?

You may notice there is no Features section any more. Instead there is a new Events section. Now everything about tournaments, gradings, seminars and camps is there - before some was in Features, some was in News and some was in Reference. The Calendar is now in Events, too. The rest of the old Features section is under What is Taekwon-Do?

The new site has a number of new pages. What is Taekwon-Do? contains some general information about our art. An exciting feature is the Taekwon-Do Talk pages, under News. A number of key articles and regulars are now on the site. We select articles that are not about specific events, which future members should read. That way we don't have to reprint them regularly in future issues.

Website menus

Website facts

Our website URL is itfnz.org.nz

The new website was designed by Mr Mike Peetz, a 1st dan from Papakura (and other places from time to time) who started Taekwon-Do in Wellington over 15 years ago. His main design goal was for a site with a modern and fresh presence, that is above all intuitive and easy to navigate.

Our Webmaster is Mr Paul McPhail, our Chief Examiner. Mr McPhail has a desktop publishing company, and he spends hours each day doing Taekwon-Do stuff.

Mr McPhail and Mr Peetz spent a crazy number of hours converting over 700 pages to the new format.

The website contains over 3,000 files!

It is hosted by Web World, who are a major sponsor of ITFNZ Taekwon-Do. They also have great deals, great prices, and great service, and if you join Web World, some of your fees can go to ITFNZ Taekwon-Do, or to your club!

The new website was partly funded by ITFNZ Taekwon-Do's UGS Scheme (the rest was done for free, because Mr Peetz and Mr McPhail love Taekwon-Do).

Our website was first created in 1996 by Mr Neil Breen, a 2nd dan from Meadowbank and often Chief Recorder at Auckland tournaments. Mr Breen works in the computer software industry.

Mr McPhail is keen for each region to develop its own website for regional news, linked to the ITFNZ Taekwon-Do website. So far Auckland North, Midlands and the South Island have regional sites that are regularly updated.