Project web site

When you create a BOINC project using make_project, a web site is created for you. This consists of a front page (html/user/index.php), which links to pages where users can log in, edit preferences, create profiles, and so on.

Before your project goes public, you'll want to change this web site as follows:

• Add and alter content:
  • Edit the main page (index.php).
  • Add new pages, linked to from the main page. These might describe your project's research, its leadership team, etc. Typically these are .php files of the form

<?php
require_once("../inc/util.inc");
page_head("Title");
... content
page_tail();
?>

• Customize page headers and footers (see config file).

• Give the web site a graphical identity (fonts, color scheme). Do this using CSS stylesheets.

What to put on the project web site

Your project's web site has a large role in attracting participants. Some suggestions:

• Present your project's credentials: the educational credentials of its leaders, its research track record, and the status of its institution.
• Describe what your project is doing: its high-level scientific goals, its methods, the details of the computation being done using volunteers, and the (non-distributed) computations that precede and follow this. How will your research affect the lives of everyday people now and/or 50 years from now?
• Who owns the intellectual property that arises from volunteer computations? Will it be released to the public? When, and under what terms?
• Show all the scientific results of the computation so far, and any publications that arise from these results. (Rosetta@home and Folding@home provide good examples of this). Announce new results and publications on the News column. Make sure your News column is being properly published as an RSS feed.
• Give some personal information about your team members: their names, background, interests, and preferably a photograph. This will 'humanize' your project in the eyes of potential participants.
• Take an active role in your web site's message boards. Read them frequently, and respond quickly to any negative threads that arise. Make a periodic posting giving 'insider info' on your project.
• Make sure your the web site has clear navigation, so that the above information is easy to find from the front page. Do a user study - show your web site to a strangers, ask them to browse it and/or to find particular information, and get their feedback (you may be surprised).
• If possible, create a graphical identity (logo, color scheme, etc.) for your project. Your web site should project professionalism and inspire confidence and interest in prospective volunteers.