Getting Started

• Do I need to know how to use a computer to build an InfoSports website? Naturally we would encourage you to use the Internet for your club, team or tournament. However, if you have very limited or no computer knowledge, or do not know of someone with this knowledge then you probably should not attempt to build a website at InfoSports. Basic computer classes are taught typically at the middle school level in today's schools. A student completing a basic computer class would have sufficient computer expertise to build and administer an InfoSports website.
• Will I need to write articles for my organization/team/tournament website? For tournaments you will need to be able to compose pages relating to field layouts and locations, tournament rules, check in requirements, hotel accomodations (for teams not from your local area), and a brief introductory welcome message for the home page. Also, the tournament application will need to be customized (a template is provided) for your tournament so that it includes tournament cost, mailing address, cut off date, etc. Today's some really large tournaments have people on site writing brief game reports for publishing in real time on the website. An InfoSports tournament website gives you this capability if you need it. If you are using the website for your team or organization then you may wish to write articles on games, board member names and positions, upcoming events, and most anything of interest.
• Do you have the discipline to update the site when information changes? Visitors expect the website to contain the most up to date and accurate information about your organization or tournament. If you can not keep the website information current then you probably would be better off not using the Internet. It is our experience that no published information is better than inaccurate information.
• Do I need to post tournament pictures on the website? For now you can probably get by without pictures. But many teams expect photos of at least the playing facilities to be published on the tournament website. Most major tournaments publish some "action" photos from the games as well as team pictures (with their awards) of the bracket champion and runner-up. A digital camera is quickly becoming a necessity. Also, if you plan on publishing pictures then a basic understanding of how to adjust your camera for smaller photo pixel sizes will be needed. By default most cameras take very "large" pictures which would be too big to publish on the website. If your photos are large (greater than 640 pixel width) then you will need to "resize" them (which will consume a considerable amount of your time) via a photo editing computer program. The Team Profile capability can be used to encourage team administrators to upload a team photo to their team profile which you can reference for your bracket finalists.
• Go for it! If you can answer the previous questions affirmatively then you should discover that using an InfoSports website will be a time saver in the long run and make for easier organization/tournament administration. Also, a nice website makes a good first impression to your parents or tournament participants.