ASP ARGGHH!

Hi Stef,

OK first I have to remember that you're in the southern hemisphere. So the cache is cleared counter-clockwise down there. It looks like this creates a time travel effect. The front page has updates from July of this year, six months from now! That is a club that is way ahead of its time.

For asp sites, you can change the scripts with ftp just as you change an ordinary web page. Download the asp scripts to your local machine, edit them, and use ftp to put the changed script back up on the site. But I have a better idea for you.

Original active server pages scripts, with an .asp extension like your site, use limited scripting features that are now obsolete. Microsoft replaced asp with better technology (ASP.Net) more than ten years ago. No updates for original asp are available any more for security or functionality. It's increasingly hard to find people familiar with this obsolete technology.

Outside the Microsoft world, the industry has also moved on to bigger and better things that are far more powerful, easy to use, and popular than asp scripts. I think your best bet is to rebuild the site using PHP and Wordpress.

It looks like the public site does not use any database access. It's just pages with text, pages with files, and a blog. I see a login box for the members-only area. Does the members section have just more pages similar to the public pages? If so, I recommend your association get a new hosting account that you set up with Wordpress, and switch the domain name to point to the new Wordpress site.

If the membership area does have some database-backed scripts, then you'll need to leave the members area on the asp site until you can move things into a modern technology. But at least the public site will be easy to maintain.

Moving to Wordpress means:

• You will use up to date, well maintained technology with plenty of how-to guides, and countless friendly experts available to help.
• The graphics can be changed without coding. You can pick any free theme you like, or easily find a graphic designer who will know how to update the design.
• Club officials can go in and update the text themselves as easily as typing an email. They can add new files or update the blog without having to wait for the webmaster, with no need to deal with code, and with no risk that their changes could break the site.
• If you need any special functionality, chances are excellent there's already a free plug-in that does it for you. In the unlikely event you need custom code, there will be examples and help for the asking.
• The site will use free, open source technology that is constantly updated for security fixes and better features. It is going to be around for many years to come.

We can talk more about this on the public forum, or you can follow up with a private message if you like.

Chris