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Pre-Race:
- Please use HTML for your online race ad. This permits race
information, like almost everything else hosted on or linked from the
NCNCA site, to be accessible from older computers as well as cell
phones, PDAs, and other portable devices. The NCNCA publishes these
accessibility guidelines so that riders will be able to lookup
directions, start times, and other important information from any
internet-connected device, including handhelds. This is not only
handy while en route to a race, it also saves paper and last-minute
phone calls.
- Have your ad up at least 4 weeks, and preferably 8 weeks, before
the race date. Notify webmaster@ncnca.org as soon as
it has been approved by the chief ref.
- Please try to include all the key information on a single page,
including start times, dates, fields, field limits, course info,
directions, contact email address and phone numbers (as listed on
the USCF permit), and entry fees.
- Please do not use Flash for key page elements. Many racers own
computers that are not supported by this Adobe product (old systems
or new unix/linux 64bit, ...). Version incompatibilities are also a
common problem. If you must use flash try to take advantage of its browser
validation and provide an HTML alternative for readers that cannot
view flash content.
- Please do not use MS .DOC, .PPT or other proprietary formats.
These non-web file formats have all the problems of Flash and PDF
and put readers at risk of viruses and trojans.
- If at all possible do not use PDF. The webmaster receives the
largest number of complaints about PDF race info due to missing
fonts, version incompatibilities, slow downloading, etc. If you
must use PDF make sure it is version 5 compatible.
- Please do host your own race info web page. Several registration
companies will host your race info with the sign-up form at their
website, however, we receive a lot of complaints of incomplete
information, broken links, and poor reliability at these sites.
- Send pre-race announcements, for things like field limits
filling, rain-cancellations, time or venue changes to the NCNCA email
list. This is the official location for late-breaking race news.
A copy can also be sent to the webmaster for the Updates section of the road
calendar, and posted to the Forums.
Post-Race:
- Send your results to webmaster@ncnca.org as soon as they are final.
- Use a standard results format: spreadsheet, CSV, HTML or
text, without tables, javascript, asp/jsp/php or other "bells and
whistles". We do need field sizes though not race, rider, or
license numbers. Good examples can be found at:
- Please make it easy for us to archive results on the NCNCA website.
We will link to results that are only found on the promoter's site,
however, a large number of results are lost this way every year.
Promoters change, webmasters change, file formats change, volunteers
delete old files, etc. Good examples of results formats that cannot
be easily archived include:
If this sounds like a lot of work consider the volunteer and
near-volunteer NCNCA webmasters, who receive requests and complaints
every week, year-round. Consider too that riders, their friends and
families, search engines, and who knows who else, will be looking for
these results years and decades from now.
Web Accessibility Links:
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