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Page Builder Info

The NMRA web site is intended to further the goals of the National Model Railroad Association: to promote, stimulate, foster and encourage by all manner and means the art and craft of model railroading and the preservation of the history, science and technology thereof. This web site is seen as one means of accomplishing this purpose. While built, maintained and hosted by volunteers, this web site is under the direct control of the NMRA Board of Trustees and the NMRA Executive Director.

The NMRA web site has been authorized by the NMRA Board of Trustees, and the individual pages have been approved by the Executive Director of the NMRA. No pages will be linked to within this web site, and no pages may contain or reference the registered trademark name or logo of the NMRA, without the express written permission of the National Model Railroad Association.

It should be noted that these rules apply to pages within the NMRA on the Web site. The NMRA on the Web site also maintains pointers to several kinds of pages which are outside of the control and responsibility of the national organization, including:

Topics for NMRA Web Pages

Web pages should be designed to further the goals of the NMRA as noted above. Information about the NMRA, especially regional, divisional, SIG, convention and other local and timely information, is the prime subject for these pages. Contest winners, convention reports, layout tours, and prototype tours from conventions are also excellent topics.

We have constructed an outline for this web site that has many holes in it at present, for which we can use volunteers to build, maintain and host pages. Contact the NMRA on the Web site administrator for more information on available assignments. We are also very open to suggestions outside the scope of our current outline. If you have an idea, we want to hear it. Discussion of this web site is maintained on an email group of Web page volunteers. There is also another email group which NMRA member volunteers can join. Contact the email list moderator at madisonrails@railfan.net to be added to the email list.

How To Build And Submit NMRA Web Pages

A template for NMRA on the Web pages is available to help you get started. All pages prepared for this web site should follow this format. No copyrighted information, explicit or implicit obscenity or double-entendre, commercial information or advertising, or other inappropriate material should be included. The NMRA will make the final decision on what is appropriate.

In-line graphics should be kept to a minimum, although larger graphics files can be referenced by pointer. Any graphics files over 20Kbytes should be labeled as to size at the reference pointer. These constraints are to make these pages pleasant cruising for those without high-bandwidth connections. We just want to make sure people know what they are downloading when they call for it.

The web page should not use proprietary extensions of HTML for any specific browser, but should be readable using any mainstream browser, especially Mosaic, Netscape, Arena and Internet Explorer. Compatibility to Arena is a test case to ensure HTML compliance. All pages must be Arena-compliant.

Within the text of the page sections you are free to use any html markups except <h1> and <h2>, which are reserved for the page title and the page section titles. Your page should be readable by those using 640 x 480 screen sizes, so if you are running a larger screen size you should probably check out your page on a small screen to see how it lays out.

Links to non-NMRA web pages should not be made within any NMRA web page, except for the section on other web sites of interest to model railroaders. Also, all links within the site should be vertical hierarchical links, or horizontal links between neighboring pages. In particular, links that cross several branches of the site should not be used, to keep administration of the site easier.

Once your NMRA page is built, you should put it in the spot where it will reside when on-line, but make no link to the page from the rest of the web. Email should be sent to the NMRA on the Web site administrator stating that the page is ready for submission, and giving the URL of the page. The NMRA on the Web site administrator will download and print out the page, ensure it meets the guidelines posted here, and send it through the approval process. Once the page is approves for content, the site administrator will inform you of the acceptance and link the page into the site.

The NMRA Executive Director may request changes to the web page submitted. These change requests will be relayed by the NMRA on the Web site administrator. Once these changes have been made, the site administrator will inform you of the acceptance and link the page into the site. The decision of the NMRA Executive Director as to what will and will not be acceptable for inclusion in the NMRA on the Web is final.

You should note that the template contains a copyright statement claiming copyright for the NMRA. This is necessary for two reasons. The first is that the NMRA pages are being built in most cases with source material that is the copyrighted material of the NMRA. The second is that at some future time the NMRA will probably desire to establish its own network site and call all the NMRA on the Web pages 'home'. We are asking that volunteers literally donate the pages they build to the NMRA so that we can use NMRA materials to build them, and so that the pages are the property of the NMRA for the future NMRA network site. Web pages which are not explicitly copyrighted to the NMRA by the author will not be linked into the NMRA on the Web.

Modifying NMRA Web Pages

Once approved, NMRA web pages may not be modified without resubmission for approval of the changes. The modified web page should be put in the spot where it will reside when on-line, with a modified name, such as _rev_B, and the procedure for submission of a new page followed. Under no circumstances is an existing NMRA web page to be modified and put on line without the proper approval process.

Why All The Rules?

The NMRA is a public organization with a reputation established over sixty years of service to the hobby of model railroading. While the web can be an important part of the NMRA's efforts on behalf of the hobby, an uncontrolled presence on the web could be disastrous for the association's reputation, and for the hobby as a whole. As NMRA members, the volunteers need to be sure that they are acting in the best interests of the association. The Executive Director of the NMRA has been selected by the NMRA members' elected representatives, the NMRA Board of Trustees, to carry out the day-to-day business of the association, including the NMRA's web presence.

What If I Don't Obey The Rules?

If a web page is linked to from this site without the approval of the NMRA, the site of the person forging the link will be cut off from the NMRA on the Web. If an approved web page is modified without the approval of the NMRA, the site containing the modified page will be cut off from the NMRA on the Web. Additionally, future pages submitted from this site may not be approved, at the discretion of the NMRA on the Web site administrator and the NMRA. This is serious stuff; we intend to protect the reputation of the association and the hobby. This web site is a wonderful opportunity to further the hobby, and we will not hesitate to protect the interests of the hobby, the association, and those volunteers who work hard to make this site a good one.