Victorian Sub-Aqua Group
(VSAG) Website

During the second half of 2006, I became aware of, and eventually joined the Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG). It was only a matter of time before I suggested a new, fully functional website was in order for VSAG. So in November 2006, work commenced.

Design Philosophy

Back in 2004, I had built a community portal website for the Deepdene Bears Cricket Club, using the CPG-Nuke content management system (CMS). Obviously, a similar solution would be appropriate for VSAG.

Since 2004, CPG-Nuke had evolved to become Dragonfly. So I went and had a look at it, plus compared it to a few other community portal solution. With a website such as this, they key is about putting control of the website back into the hands of its owners for its ongoing operation and management. After looking around and testing a few of the most popular CMS portal options, I felt the latest version of Dragonfly was closest to being what I wanted. I settled on it as the best way forward.

The Tools

The following software tools were used to build the Victoria Sub-Aqua Group website:

• Dragonfly 9.0.6.1
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 and IIS for my testing platform
• Linux 2.6.9-42.0.3 and Apache 1.3.31 for the live public platform
• PHP 4.4.4
• MySQL 4.1.21 standard
• phpMyAdmin 2.6.0
• NoteTab Pro
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and Mozilla Firefox 1.5
• Adobe PhotoShop CS2
• Adobe Illustrator CS2
• WinSCP

Site Construction

Jaguar PC was chosen to host the website.

The installation and configuration of Dragonfly went smoothly. Then it was time to install and configure some addition modules, and enhancement.

• Combined 1.0.1
• Contacts Pro 1.1.2.0
• FAQ 2.0.2
• Encyclopedia 2.0.2
• Downloads Pro 3.0.0.8
• CPGNuCalendar 2.0.5.2
• Content Enhanced 9.7.1.0
• Delete Members 1.0
• DF Map Module 0.9.7
• Sitemaps 1.4.4
• Newsletter Pro 3.4.4
• LinktoUs 1.0.1
• ProjectsPro 1.1.0.2
• Weblink Pro 1.1.4.2

The Easy DF template was purchased from ???. There were a few issues with te template that had to be fixed, but it was soon looking good.

The Results

The Victorian Sub-Aqua Group website went live in December 2006.

I am certainly delighted with the results achieved by using Dragonfly. Better still, I think the VSAG members, plus those who have taken on administration and moderator roles, are going to be very happy too.