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 posted to the Forums.
Post-Race:
- Send your results to results@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.
- 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:
(see the HTML source, CTL-U, if it’s not obvious).
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.