Website

The Creation of the Original AFMS Web Site

The original website followed a test website provided by Mel Albright that provided the AFMS presence on the web for over a year. Mel provided the much appreciated ground breaking work to establish a web presence until a permanent was able to be defined and developed. Without the initial test site, a lot of the information of the AFMS would not have been distributed on the web. Much of the information and many of the concepts on the original website were taken from the original test site. We would like honor Mel Albright for his work to help develop the original site.

A committee of John Alf, Mel Albright, and Carolyn Weinberger was appointed by 1998 AFMS president Dee Holland to research and develop the outline for the original website. Phil Herren did a lot of research and made many recommendations to the committee. The following basic guidelines where used during this process for this site:

• Establishment of a web site for the AFMS and the availability of companion sites for all regional federation desiring to utilize the same.

• Ease of use of the site with availability to all areas of the country to permit all persons to be able to locate and view the material presented thereon.

• Reasonable cost to the AFMS and each Regional Federation to build and maintain the site.

• Ease of building and maintaining each site so professional assistance, at a great expense, might be avoided.

• Ability to transfer control of the site to a new Webmaster with a minimum of confusion or expense.

1999 President Lewis Elrod while working with the above, set the gears in motion for the actual construction of the original site in 1999.

Through the assistance of Bob Keller of Bob's Rock Shop, we were able to set up the site with an internet host provider and obtain a URL that is owned by the AFMS. The URL www.amfed.org can be relocated to a different provider if the need should ever arise, while maintaining a consistent URL.

Mel Albright (past AFMS Newsletter Editor, Safety Chairman, and Test Web Site Webmaster), along with Bill Luke (past AFMS Newsletter) William Klose, Cathy Gaber, Bob and Kathy Miller, and Carolyn Weinberger (AFMS Newsletter Editor), were a great help providing much of the information presented on the original site.

The Second AFMS Website

In 2020, an ad hoc website committee was formed to investigate rewriting the site. A great deal of research was conducted to determine what should be retained from the original website and what should be added to address needs that had changed since the original site was developed.

Advances in technology and the evolved use of the internet as well as the evolution of the AFMS itself were all considered in the new design.

Once a new platform was chosen, development of the new site began in early 2021. The site was designed to keep maintenance to a minimum while emphasizing the collaboration of multiple functions within the AFMS to keep information on the site current. 

As of this writing in June 2021, development is still ongoing with a concentration on adding new content.