The Arizona PBL web site has been updated to match our fresh/modern look, but more importantly its now running off a Wordpress blog. Now you will be able to comment on articles, search the web site, review archives, and more. Over the next week there will be a lot of additions to the site as we slowly transition over to this new platform. Please bear with us.

Why Wordpress?

We wanted to transition azpbl.org over to a content management system (CMS) to make updates and posts as quick and painless as a possible. With Wordpress, one of the most popular blogging platforms on the internet, we will be able to better manage content on the web site and facilitate contributions from the top down. This allows all the contributors to the web site to write posts with ease in a simplistic web-based interface. That means more frequent updates and in the end, a more robust and complete web site for Arizona PBL.

How does this new site affect me?

Switching to Wordpress actually gives all users more power in shaping the content of the web site. As a guest or member of AZ PBL, you may comment on any piece of content posted on the web site. In fact, we encourage it. This will promote healthy conversation about what AZ PBL is doing. If you are a chapter president, you can even post content pieces to the site. Just register (using the link under tools to the right) and notify the State President (president@azpbl.org) that you want author status on the web site. Once you are given the proper permissions, you will be able to login, access the site admin, and write content. This content will then be maintained in a draft state until one of the editors (state officers or advisers) publishes it live and on the site. We hope that chapter presidents can write interesting articles about what their local chapters are doing.

What can I expect in the future?

Here are some ideas that will probably be implemented sooner rather than later.

• AZPBL image gallery fed by Flickr
• Alumni Directory (we will be working to integrate what we previously had as a membership directory into the wordpress engine, hopefully with some further improvements)
• Archive of competitive event winners. We will be integrating competitive event winner lists directly into wordpress as posts categorized under “Awards.”
• Document Library

Your ideas and feedback, as always, are much appreciated.