Windsor Half Marathon Web site requirements

See also: Windsor Half Marathon CRASH

Introduction

Paola Kathuria, March 2001

This document describes the requirements of a new web site for the Building Industry Windsor Half Marathon, renamed in 2001 to Windsor Half Marathon (WHM). A web site has supported the event since 1996 and is now in need for redevelopment to accommodate new kinds of information and uses.

The document first describes the event and its context, in terms of the people the event comes into contact with. The second part of the document describes the content and functional requirements by describing each page in the proposed site structure. These requirements came about following a working meeting with the organisers and representative users in January 2000 (see the Appendix for a list of the attendees).

Purpose of the web site

The main purpose of a WHM web site is to promote and support the event:

• attract new runners (new to running or to the event) and past entrants (through post-event materials);
• provide facilities so that people can enter the event, make a donation, buy official merchandise or hire marquees;
• help to get new sponsors.

Measurable goals

The effectiveness of the web site can be measured in various ways:

• average number of visits per day (accounting for spiders) ensuring that the visitor's browser make/version doesn't affect average length of stay on the site;
• number of people who use the entry form on the web site to enter the event;
• number of people who found out about the event through the site (the printed entry form should ask this specifically);
• number of people who send in reviews to be added to the site;
• number of people who sign up to the announcements mailing list;
• number of links from other web sites (currently ~45);
• mailed feedback.

The Windsor Half Marathon

The Windsor Half Marathon is a sponsored yearly event in Windsor Great Park, England. The purpose of the event is to raise money for its three official charities. WHM started in 1982 under the direction of Alysia Hunt, who organised the event for 18 years. When she retired from WHM in 1999, over £1,000,000 had been raised for charity (£57,000 on average a year based on 19 years).

To date, the event has had a strong building industry focus. This has been reflected through the event's name, logo, the main sponsors, the team categories and by the support of CRASH, a corporate-sector charity associated with the construction and property industry.

Peter Hier took over the event organisation in 2000. It has been proposed to rename the event Windsor Half Marathon to 1) look for sponsors outside the building industry and 2) remove any impression that the event is only open to building industry runners.

Fund-raising

WHM makes money through the following sources (in decreasing order of money raised - based on 2000's figures):

• Entry fees (half marathon);
• Sponsorship fees;
• Runner sponsorship (runners raising money through getting sponsorship);
• Hospitality hire (the hire of marquees, tables and chairs);
• Corporate Friends;
• T-shirt (and sweatshirt) sales;
• Donations (entrants making a donation on the entry form);
• Raffle (prizes donated by the sponsors);
• Fun Run entries, franchise and entertainment.

After paying the event costs, the remaining money is paid to the charities and to volunteers. The average amount given away each year - based on 1996-2000 figures - is £72,000. Of that, about 90% is split equally amongst the three charities. The rest is given to the various volunteer groups who helped out on the day, commensurate with their contribution (e.g., Windsor Scouts, BASICS doctors and Middlesex ATC).

Event profile

There are several races on the day:

• Half marathon - limited to 5,000 runners
• Pushed wheelchair event - half marathon or special 7-mile course
• Fun Run - 2.5 miles for 10 / 80+ year olds
• Sprite Sprint - 60-70 yards for five to nine year-olds

Runners are grouped by gender and age categories; prize-giving relates to position in these categories:

• Men 17-39   40-49   50-59   60-69   70+
• Women 17-34   35-44   45-54   55+

There are also team categories:

• Athletic Club
• Building Materials
• Building Surveyors
• Business General
• Construction Companies
• Civil/Structural Engineers
• Company Guests
• Ladies
• Facilities Management
• Project Management
• Quantity Surveyors
• Services
• Social Clubs
• Schools

All competitors who cross the finish line receive a commemorative medal. Medals are presented to the pushed wheelchair winners. Prize money totalling £5,700 is given to the first six men and women, and Nike vouchers to the age group winners.

Timeline

• Six months before - Printed entry booklet becomes available
• One month before - Information packs start to be sent out
• Three weeks before - Deadline for entries
• The day - The day of the event
• One month after - Printed results booklet sent out
• Two months after - Awards ceremony in Windsor

Main relationships

Race Director

The event has continued since 1982 despite a change in race director. Thus the main relationship is between the event and its race director (aka event organiser).

For 18 years, the event was under the direction of Alysia Hunt, who was a professional fund-raiser. The new director (from 2000), Peter Hier, has a running and event-management background. WHM is one of several running events that Peter organises. He is the Event Director for the Bristol Half Marathon and the World Half Marathon Championships in Bristol 2001. The 2000 Bristol Half Marathon took place a week after WHM.

New to WHM, Peter left most elements in place in 2000, bringing in just a new results company, data input company for entries, and the results booklet production. Having now seen what works and what doesn't work, he would like to simplify the processes for future events and introduce training seminars for inexperienced runners.

The race director sits on various committees including the executive committee and the sponsors committee. He meets with the helpers twice before the event to go through the plans for the day. From 2001, he will be responsible for managing sponsorship and corporate hospitality (CRASH were responsible for these in 2000).

Charities

The supported charities are currently:

• Prince Philip Trust   since 1992
• CRASH   since 1994
• National Meningitis Trust   since 1999

RNIB was an official charity for several years up to 1999. It is envisaged that the third charity will continue to change about every three years. It is customary for charities to help in events which raise a lot of money for them.

In 2000, for instance, CRASH:

1. organised corporate hospitality;
2. organised Corporate Friends;
3. organised the raffle (with Barbour Index);
4. organised entertainment on the day;
5. sent out the results booklets;
6. manned the community tent;
7. organised the awards dinner.

It would be helpful if charities (and anyone else who wanted to promote the event) had access to copy and logos to include in their own promotional material. A PR pack could be sent out to interested parties before and after the event.

WHM publishes a few paragraphs on each charity; the existing web site does not contain any other extra information. It is felt that the profile of the charities is quite low on the web site. A new requirement is that there should be at least two updates a year for each charity on the web site. The first before the event to describe the ways the raised money could be used and then after the event to describe how the money was used.

It was suggested that the entry form include a checkbox to request a pack containing more information on the three charities.

Runners (general)

In 2000, about 75% of the entrants completed the half marathon. Of those, just over half were individual runners and the rest were running as part of a team for a club or company. Also in 2000, around 200 teams were entered, 10% by athletic clubs and 85% by 70 companies.

In 2000, 200 runners raised an average of £80 each in sponsorship. Some runners used the event to raise money for a charity of their choice. It has been decided to not have a raffle in future years. However, since the sponsors donated prizes to the events (ranging from plane tickets to Nice to a pen), it was decided to award these prizes instead to the runners who'd raised the most money for charity through sponsorship. That runners will be rewarded this way therefore needs to be added to the entry information.

Information is not currently collected on the experience of entrants. However, it is believed that most of the half marathon runners are inexperienced and include a lot of first-timers.

It was suggested that the organisers compile a league table of repeat runners. This would show position and previous position by some criteria to be defined for the top 100 runners who'd run the half marathon more than once.

Some of the people who inquired into the event mistakenly understood it to be just for building industry-related companies and not an event open to any runner.

Elite runners

Elite runners normally run around 80 miles a week. Their motivation for entering a half marathon is to a) improve their personal best time and b) to beat other elite or professional runners. Professional runners may have agents; the runners who came 1st and 2nd overall in the 2000 event were specifically invited to enter in order to make the event competitive and appealing to other elite runners.

The WHM course is a relatively hard course to run because it is quite hilly; for the elite runner, then, there is likely to be more appeal in running against world-class runners than trying to beat their personal best time. An elite runner would look at the past winners to determine the level of competition. Therefore, to attract more elite runners, it was suggested to publish a list of world-class runners on the site prior to the event.

Elite and professional runners tend not to raise money for charity through sponsorship.

Experienced runners

An experienced runner is someone who may normally run over 20 miles a week. Their main motivation for entering a half marathon is to improve their personal best and not about their finishing position.

Inexperienced runners

According to the organiser for the 2000 event, most of the runners were inexperienced. A significant number of runners had difficulties only 2-3 miles into the course and it is believed that this is due to lack of preparation.

A three-month training guide was published for the first time in 2000 and was aimed at, and used by, experienced runners. Our representative inexperienced runner used the guide and printed copies for friends who were running other half marathons. He said that, without the guide, it wouldn't have occurred to him to start training by walking and to include rest days in the schedule.

He said that he got other information from the team members from his company that he travelled with. For instance, on the issue of water, some people may drink too much and then be uncomfortable running. Whilst at the other extreme, if a runner felt thirsty while running, it was a sign that they were already dehydrated and had left it too late.

The event organiser wants to start training seminars, hosted by professional trainers for inexperienced runners. It is expected that as a result of organising these seminars, basic training information will become available to put on the web site.

In addition, it was thought helpful to have a video of the course, or a photographic tour and a stage-by-stage account of the course (features and drink stations).

Clubs

Clubs enter teams of runners. They often have their own web site on which they publish an event diary and team results. For examples, see:

• Wimbledon Windmilers
• Bedford Harriers A.C.
• Headington RoadRunners

Spectators

Runners tend to bring friends and family along. There can typically be 5,000 people in the park who come with runners. There are various activities available to them during the day, including refreshments, finger-painting and stalls. It was felt that there could be more stalls available selling local arts and crafts.

Companies

Companies deal with WHM in one of several ways. Most likely they will enter one or more teams. Companies are able to get print-outs of the team results on the day.

They will probably also hire a marquee for the people in their group and offer food and drink. Company marquees will have banners. There is a site map which shows the location of all the marquees on site.

Our representative company said that they were interested in participating in the event for internal PR and to make contact with other companies. She would have liked to have a networking opportunity by way of a general sponsors tent. With regard to choosing the appropriate marquee size, she agreed that it would have been useful to have a guide on how many people could comfortably fit in the marquees (which is described only by the area in feet).

The teams categories tend to be related to the building industry. It has been proposed to simplify the categories and to remove the emphasis on the building industry.

Sponsors

The event's main sponsors are related to the building industry. For a yearly fee, they get their logo on the entry booklet, the web site (all pages), the information pack and results booklet and the official stationary. Sponsors also get a marquee on the day, a full-page ad in the results booklet, as well as other benefits.

Nike is a special one-of-a-kind sponsor. It supports and benefits from the event more extensively than the other sponsors. Nike have the biggest logo on the entry and results booklets. They design and produce the official WHM t-shirts and sweatshirt on which they have exclusive rights to include their logo.

RMC, a WHM sponsor for 15 years, sent 200 runners from 8 countries to run in 29 teams in 2000. They mainly use the event for internal PR. They brought their own photographer to the awards ceremony so that they could use the photos in their own publicity. They would not be a sponsor in future events due to changes within RMC itself.

For the first time in 2000, the logos of Corporate Friends appeared underneath the main sponsor logos on the results booklet. This was felt by some of the sponsors to undermine their corporate presence for which they paid significantly more. It needs to be decided how to adequately reflect the level of sponsorship on the web site.

It is being proposed to look for sponsors outside the building industry by renaming the event the Windsor Half Marathon.

Corporate Friends

Whilst the companies who sponsor the event remain main sponsors for many years, there tends to be a different set of Corporate Friends every year.

A need was identified for a simpler package to be offered for sponsorship. Peter has devised three levels of package. Corporate Friend will be replaced with Silver sponsor. Current sponsors become Gold sponsors. How the level of sponsorship should be reflected on the web site is still to be defined.

In 2000, the standard package for a Corporate Friend cost £1,250 and included the following:

• Company logo in Information to runners
• Free 1/2 page advertisement in Results Booklet
• 20 x 20 marquee and fire extinguisher
• Trestle table and 10 chairs
• Unlimited company banner sites around their marquee
• Association with a team category
• Invitation to the Awards ceremony

Volunteers

There are a number of volunteer support teams which the event relies upon. The teams marshal the start/finish line, the drinks stations, provide on-site medical assistance and clear up after the event.

Regular volunteers have included:

• BASICS (medical assistance)
• 5^th Windsor and 7^th Windsor Scouts
• Middlesex Wing Air Training Corps. (100+ cadets)

Some volunteers receive a portion of the money raised by the event.

The volunteers network is such that it requires no support from the web site.

Instead, the current site helps to show appreciation by reprinting the acknowledgement which goes out in the results booklet and by including photos showing them on the day.

Suppliers

There are a number of suppliers to the event. Some donate supplies or services such as water from Thames Water and barriers from Laing. Suppliers are also used to hire things such as tables, ambulance services, the general hospitality tent and music.

As with the volunteer network, the supplier relationships do not need support from the web site. However, there is a need to provide visitors with a map showing the location of refreshments or stalls where one can buy souvenirs.

To date, the results booklet content (everything but the ads) is reproduced on the web site which means that many suppliers are listed on the acknowledgement page.

The current web site

The web site has been designed, built and maintained by a single volunteer since it was first launched in 1996. It is a simple site in that has no back-end software (thus no interactivity) and no professional graphic design input. The visual design has been based on the entry booklet each year, which has been designed in recent years by Nike.

The site was originally based on the entry booklet and, after the first event, expanded to include the results booklet. The basic grouping of this year's event (entry booklet) and detail on past events (results booklet) has remained the main structure of the site.

Location

To date, Limitless (the author's previous employer) provides:

• free hosting for the web site;
• mail-forwarding for two official WHM e-mail addresses (director@biwhm.org.uk and corporate@biwhm.org.uk) and
• the announcements mailing list (announcements@biwhm.org.uk).

The web site was originally based at http://www.limitless.co.uk/biwhm/ - in February 2000 it was moved to its own address http://www.biwhm.org.uk/ There are still links to the old domain which result in about 20 attempted page requests a day. These are automatically redirected to the new domain.

If the event name is changed

If the event is renamed, the following things will need to be arranged:

1. a new logo;
2. registration of a new domain;
3. changing of the automatic redirect at www.limitless.co.uk/biwhm/;
4. an automatic redirect is set up from www.biwhm.org.uk;
5. automatically redirect for mail sent to the biwhm.org.uk mailing addresses;
6. inform web sites which link to the WHM site.

Size

At the time of writing, the WHM web site is just over 11MB. It is composed of 74 web pages and 475 images:

• 64 web pages with past event details (up to and include 2000)
• 1 web page describing the current (2001) event
• 9 other web pages
• 428 photos (including thumbnails) for events 1996-2000
• 47 other graphics (such as buttons and logos)
• 1 stylesheet (CSS file)
• 1 bookmark icon - favicon.ico - for IE visitors

Popularity

Online site promotion has been in the form of requesting links from related sites. After people started to use the entry form on the web site, the site URL was added to the official printed materials.

The number of entries through the web site has steadily increased in the last 2-3 years, with the web site now accounting for over half of the entries. With the increasing success of the site, different kinds of content was sent to be included, such as information and forms for corporate hospitality and to become a Corporate Friend. It quickly became apparent that there was no place to publish the information on the site to give it the appropriate level of prominence.

Traffic

There are 300 page accesses on average a day with 1pm being the busiest time. The site is bookmarked at least twice a day (based on figures from visitors using Internet Explorer).

The report below shows the number of page views each week and was generated by Analog (the event took place on 1 Oct 2000).

The electronic announcements mailing list

The announcements (one-way) mailing list was set up in May 2000 following the problems in 1999. Excessive rain caused huge delays when all but one car park had to be closed due to flooding. The mailing list was set up to send information on last-minute changes to published materials.

In the first year of running (2000), about 160 people signed-up to the announcements mailing list. Announcements are also duplicated on the web site.

The announcements mailing list proved useful during 2000's fuel crisis when several hundred runners didn't receive their information packs (with the runner number) in time. After the event, the list is used to notify people of major changes to the site (such as the addition of the results).

It would be better if all entrants with e-mail addresses subscribed to the list. It is suggested that the entry form be changed to say that people will be automatically subscribed to the announcements list unless they opt not to.

The new web site

A new web site is needed to move beyond the entry form/results booklet format and to better address the individual needs of the different types of people that are involved with the event, such as runners, companies, sponsors and charities.

Site structure

A hierarchical structure is described in this document. The home page is referred to as level 1, pages linked from the home page (section entry pages) are referred to as level 2, pages linked from those are level 3 and so on. Content will appear in summary form on the first two levels and then become more detailed as one goes deeper into the web site.

Most level 2 pages will be accessible as links on every web page in the site. These section links may be grouped into levels of prominence (major, medium and minor). Size, colour, shape and position of links will be used to convey the distinction between levels of prominence.

Note that pages are referred to by their working title.

Priorities are:

• required - the page or section is required at launch of the new web site;
• nice to have - if there's time, this content will be added for launch, but isn't a priority;
• next phase - the content will not be included at launch, but in the next phase of the site.

Site content

The web site is to be composed of the pages described next. Please refer to the accompanying site structure diagram. The hierarchical structure is conveyed by indentation (each indentation level implies a lower level in the site for all pages except the home page, which is at the same level as level 2 pages).

0. Windsor Half Marathon - required -The home page is used to quickly introduce the event, the site style and sections through the main graphical links. Information in the opening paragraph should convey a) the various events on the day, b) that the events raise money for charity, c) that it is a sponsored event, d) latest news (announcements and site updates). The copy will include links to the appropriate pages, writing copy specifically to include links to the key sections of the site. Sponsor logos (linked to the Sponsors page) will be on the page (and possibly on all pages in the site).
1. What's new - required - see announcements.htm - this page is made up of a dated list of short announcements concerning the event and the web site. Each item links to a page covering the item in more detail on a permanent page. Regular visitors to the site can use this page to find out what's new on the site and what's new with the event quickly. The page features a link about the announcements mailing list.
   1. Get updates by mail - required - as announce.htm. Describes the announcements mailing list and gives instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing.
2. The venue, Windsor Great Park - required - a page giving an overview of the venue of the event, introducing the history and surrounding area. Introduces the pages which go into more detail. Includes a link to What else you can do on the day (in The next event section). This page could include a downloadable screensaver, for example a slide-show of photos with the day's training guide, or with captions of Windsor, the Park and past events.
   1. Directions - required - (previously part of the event details) directions to the Park, by car, train or public transport, including time to allow from surrounding areas. Link to an online map (e.g., http://streetmap.co.uk/).
   2. Visiting & staying in Windsor - nice to have - information for those wanting to come a day early or for families accompanying runners who don't want to stay by the course all day. Links to official Windsor web sites, recommendations and contact details for places to stay.
   3. About the course - required - a detailed description of the course from the point of view of running it. Introduce and link to the map and picture tour. If available, link to a high-speed video of the course (streaming video) as seen from a runner's perspective.
      1. Course map - required - map of the course showing route map and elevation (gradients), landmarks, drink stations and the start/finish line. Designed to be printed on A4 (and U.S. Letter) paper and to remain as useful when printed without colour.
      2. Pictures of the course - nice to have - a photographic tour of the course, again from the runner's perspective. Each photograph is accompanied by information such as distance into course, the location of drink stations and other landmarks.
   4. What else you can do on the day - nice to have - a link to the page of that name in The next event section (if it exists).

4. The next event - required - similar to current.htm this page provides links to sub-sections of information specific to the next event. It is possible that the level 3 pages will remain as placeholders throughout the year but that the level 4 pages in this section will be removed after the event if they no longer apply (such as the printable entry form). The page describes that there are various races during the day and gives a short description of each. Most of the page will be taken by introducing and linking to the sub-section pages.
   1. Enter the event - required - this page groups the forms and information specific to entrants. It links to the printable entry and sponsorship forms and also gives detail on a single page for easy printing in one go.
      1. Information for runners - required - as event.htm - provides detailed information specific to entrants, as would appear in the entry booklet. Links to pages about the course and about activities for accompanying family.
      2. Entry form - required - 2000-form.htm - a printable entry form for use by individuals and teams. The form also allows people to order t-shirts and other merchandise or to make a donation. The form includes checkboxes for people to tick if they would like to hear from any of the sponsor companies.
         
         The form should encourage people to sign up to the announcements mailing list and can be also used to gather background information to gain a profile of runners (if they'd entered the event before, how many miles they run a week, how many half marathons they'd run already). Finally, the form links to the sponsorship form and introduces the idea that the top x people who raise money for charity will receive prizes donated by the sponsors to be presented at the awards ceremony.
      3. Charity sponsorship form - required - see sponform.htm - a printable form to raise money for the supported charities. Link to the continuation form. Explains that the top x people who raise money for charity will receive prizes donated by the sponsors to be presented at the awards ceremony.
         1. Charity continuation sponsorship form - required - as sponformc.htm - a continuation of the sponsorship form without all the background info.
   2. Featured entrants - required - this could be a sub-section of 4 pages or, depending on how much information is available, could be a single page. If the latter, a first paragraph would introduce the page and link to the main sections on the page: Elite runners, Club championships and Company challenges.
      
      Under Elite runners, key runners would be listed (name, short profile, perhaps with a photo). Club championships will include a list of current championships. Under Company challenges, a list of the current challenges that the organiser has been told about with information on the challenging company, business type and contact details.
      1. Elite runners - nice to have - described above.
      2. Club championships - required - described above.
      3. Company challenges - required - described above.
   3. Corporate hospitality - required - an introduction to the idea that furniture can be hired on the day (marquees, tables and chairs). Describe what kinds of things are available with pictures. Link to a printable form for use by companies and to the Shop for online ordering and payment.
      1. Corporate hospitality order form - required - printable order form for use by companies to pay by company cheque or credit card.
   4. What else you can do on the day - required - a description of what is available in terms of food and entertainment on the day for families accompanying runners. Link to a map showing the location of marquees and facilities.
      1. Site map - required - a printable site map showing the location of marquees and facilities.
   5. Come to the awards dinner - next phase - a description of the awards dinner, who will be invited and that there are a limited number of spaces (tables?) for paying guests. Link to a printable order form and to the Shop to order places (include special dietary requirements).
      1. Awards dinner order form - next phase
   6. Shop - next phase - secure online payment for things which can be bought immediately: entry, donations, t-shirts, tables at the awards dinner, outdoor furniture, corporate hospitality, sponsorship. The complexity of the shop depends on what will be available to purchase online. Show pictures of items wherever possible.

5. How to prepare for a half marathon - required - content targeted at inexperienced runners but experienced runners may have a look around. This page introduces the section and links to the sub-sections. This resource is intended to give information specific to the event but also to be useful to anyone planning to run a half marathon.
   1. Checklist for WHM 2001 - nice to have - a one-page checklist showing what to do (or get) months, hours and minutes before the event, during the event and minutes, hours and days after the event. It will be dated specific to the next event (that is, instead of saying "Two months before", it will give actual dates relative to the next event). Link to a general version without dates.
      1. Checklist - nice to have - a dateless version of the checklist for use by any half marathon runner. And (or) an interactive version in which the visitor types in the date of a half marathon and a checklist is generated with the corresponding dates.
   2. Training guide for WHM 2001 - required - as training.htm - a three-month training guide as appeared in the 2000 entry booklet. Includes dates for each day relative to the next event.
      1. Training guide - required - a dateless version of the training guide to be easily used for any half marathon runner. And (or) an interactive version in which the visitor types in the date of a half marathon and a training guide is generated with the corresponding dates.
   3. How to run a half marathon - required - a guide for inexperienced runners (Peter has already commissioned the content for this) including, for example, medical and diet information. This page would describe the sub-section and provide a contents list. Once in the guide, people should be able to link to any other page in the guide (by way of a contents list on each page) or back to this page.
   4. Hosted chats - next phase -A description of hosted real-time online chat events where an expert will be answering questions sent in advance. The actual chat will most likely take place on another site, in which case this page will provide a diary of upcoming chat events and provide information about how to get involved.
   5. Other resources - nice to have - links to other sites and online resources that cover more areas or which go into more detail for runners. Links represent recommendations and will be checked regularly (at least monthly).

6. Past events - required - as past.htm - for each event, show money raised for charity and link to available information.
   1. Winners - required - as winners.htm - list individual winners in each category for past events.
      1. Winners, graphically - required - as winnersg.htm - list individual winners in each category for past events graphically.
   2. Race statistics - required - a summary showing the fastest and slowest finish times, and the number of finishers in each category (for the previous event?).
   3. League table - nice to have - for the top x runners, gives position (past and previous) in a league table (based on criteria to be defined). Bedford Harriers A.C. publish a league table at http://www.bedfordharriers.co.uk/grahams_league.htm
   4. (for each year) - required - a summary of the event (number of entrants, finishers and money raised) and then links to the detail pages for that year.
   5. Director's report - required - as 2000.htm - a version of the director's report that appears in the printed results booklet.
   6. Results - required - as 2000-results.htm - links to the individual results pages.
      1. Leading individuals - required - as 2000-lead.htm - gives results for the leading individuals in each category.
      2. All, by position - required - as 2000-p.htm - gives all results, one row per finisher, ordered by finishing position (for elite and professional runners).
      3. All, by surname - required - as 1999-a.htm - gives all results, one row per finisher, ordered by surname (for experienced and inexperienced runners).
      4. (by category) - required - e.g., as 2000-m17-39.htm - pages of individual results for each category.
      5. Team results - required - as 2000-team.htm - gives summary team results, one row per team, by category.
      6. Expanded Team results - required - as 2000-teame.htm - gives team results, showing detail for each runner, by category.
      7. Team trophies - required - as 2000-teamt.htm - lists recipients of the various team trophies against last event's winners.
   7. Reviews - required - as 2000-view.htm - selected reviews sent in by people who entered or attended the event.
   8. Photos - required - as 1999-photos.htm - Pages of thumbnail photos with captions. Limit the photos per page to 50K.
      1. (individual photo page) - nice to have - a page with a single photo. Links to the previous and next photo for that year, and back to the relevant page of thumbnails.
   9. Acknowledgements - required - as 2000-ack.htm - a version of what appears in the printed results booklet. List and acknowledge all the volunteers who helped on the day and to companies who donated materials.
   10. Search the results - nice to have - a dedicated search form to search just the results. For example, it could allow people to search on year (one, several or a range), on name, runner number, team, company or finishing time. It would display results meaningful to what was searched for, showing as much context as was specified in the search.

7. Supported charities - required - as charities.htm - explanation that the event raises money for charity. A summary of the charities and then links to detail on each.
   1. CRASH - required - for each charity, describe how the money raised at the last event is (typically) used and why money raised at the next event is needed.
   2. National Meningitis Trust - required
   3. Prince Philip Trust - required
8. Sponsors - required - a page explaining that the support from sponsors is what enables the event to take place. List the sponsors under each category (biggest first), with logos and links to web sites as appropriate. Link to detail on becoming a sponsor.
   1. Become a sponsor -nice to have - quick overview of sponsorship: the three levels of sponsorship linking to the descriptions of each further down the page. Describe the benefits of becoming a sponsor and explain how to apply. For each sponsor package, describe the package and give its cost. It is likely that this page will be printed out for distribution within a company.
9. Event organiser - nice to have - background to the event organiser (race director) with contact details and answers to frequent questions about the event.
10. Event graphics & clippings - required - this sub-section is for those who want to publish PR materials (for internal use or in press releases) about their involvement with the event. People who might need such information include the sponsors, the charities and the local newspaper. It includes a description of what's available and links to the individual pages.
    1. Official graphics - required -This page will include downloadable hi-resolution (for print) sponsor and event graphics and terms for their use. The page will also include low-resolution graphics to be used when linking to the site (see support.htm). (If there isn't time to include Press clippings on the new web site, this and the section page about will be combined into a single page.)
    2. Press clippings - nice to have - a list of publications that the event has been covered in (date and publication name), with extracts.

11. Site contents - required - as contents.htm - list and link to all the pages on the site (or up to level 4 or 5) grouped by section. All pages become two clicks away from any other page to a visitor and to indexing spiders, which sometimes only index sites to two links deep.
12. Site credits - required - similar to contacts.htm#credits - list of companies/individuals involved in the site design, build and maintenance. List their role, name, company logo and contact details; link to their web site.
13. Site search - required - search form to search all pages on the site. Or the search form could be a) at the top of the contents page or b) on all site pages.

Graphic design

The half marathon often has categories for the visually impaired. With a single set of pages, the site should therefore be accessible, legible and usable by people with visual impairments (they should be able to grow fonts using their browser) or with text-only screen readers (the page should make sense if layout tables are removed).

The information in this section goes some way to addressing these issues.

Printing

The design should allow for printing of pages - that is, no information required to understand the page should be lost when the page is printed on a black and white printer. The default setting of printing (onto white paper) of text as it is coloured on the page also needs to be considered.

Design cues

Depending on the level in the site structure a page exists, different navigational and informational elements will be on the page. These elements are:

• Link home - (for all pages but the home page) each page includes a graphical link back to the home page in a consistent position. Also included on all pages is the site name (Windsor Half Marathon). Both can be achieved by making the site name a button to the home page - include the word "home" or "home page" if the logo isn't obviously a button;
• Section links by way of coloured-coded and iconic graphical buttons. These link to the top section pages. On the inner pages, they should be in a consistent position;
• a short but unambiguous colour-coded page heading (not a graphic);
• a colour-coded section graphic indicating the current section;
• the section heading (the page heading of the section's level 2 page) - or the page context, by way of a horizontal list of text links showing the parent path back to the home page (e.g.: WHM > Past events > 2000 > Reviews);
• the style of the section buttons - showing unselected-active, selected-inactive, selected-active depending on what page one is looking at;
• a page footer, contains at least the page URL. It can also contain a copyright notice or other notices.

Button labels

Graphical buttons should be created for at least the major and medium section links.

The text labels for all graphical buttons will be in HTML text. The graphical part can be to the left, right or above the text link.

Button colours

Avoid button or text colours similar to the default new and visited link colours, shown right.

Sub-section links

The design should allow for all sub-section (level 3) links (of main and medium sections) to be listed as HTML links below the associated button and label or in a consistent position on pages. Sub-section links will be shown on all pages of the site.

Display

The site will not use frames and so the design should not rely on them.

The design should not be such to require the entire page to be held in a single table. Instead, a design which allows progressive display (e.g., by using a series of tables, if using tables for layout) is required.

The level 2 links can be placed along the top of the page and/or in a right-hand column. The main text of the page should be on the left-hand side of pages.

The design should allow for the duplication of all links (the link to the home page and the section buttons) in the last screenful of long pages without the need for a second set of graphics or changing the orientation of links (that is, from a vertical list to a horizontal list).

To design a site which is fast and easy to use, accessible to any browser and for printing, please refer to the further guidelines.

APPENDIX: The planning group

The information in this document came out of a planning meeting on 11 January 2001. The attendees were invited to represent the interests of specific groups:

• Peter Hier, Hier International Management   the Race Director
• Tricia Blake, CRASH   an official charity
• David Scott, Nike   a main sponsor
• Linda Brooks, Morgan Cole   a Corporate Friend
• David Missen, Morgan Cole   inexperienced runner
• Paul Millar, Morgan Cole (by proxy)   an elite runner
• Paola Kathuria, Limitless Innovations   the web site architect

This document was reviewed and refined following feedback from:

• Phil Coates, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young   an experienced runner