WestBrom.com is an Independent West Bromwich Albion website created by Albion
fans, for Albion fans.
BRIEF
HISTORY
As 1998 was drawing to a close, Baggies fan, Glenn Tuck was getting more than
just frustrated with the web whilst abroad searching for any fresh news from
the club or self minded fans. The problem at the time was that their just
wasn't enough sites to satisfy the need. This initial frustration became the
basis of a multitude of hours spent learning, researching and creating the
site you see today but the earlier site history began as follows.
Baggieson.Com
The
first site was named baggieson.com. It was a basic site and put together with
the knowledge found on the internet site
htmlgoodies.com. This first attempt at a West Brom site contained some
bizarre content and very little imagination but contained the basics about the
team with links to the various news sites which were available then.
Software used:
Hot Metal Pro 6
Hosted on: Freeserve (free web space)
Average daily page impressions: 15
Style: Standard html
WBA-FC.Com
The
first revamp of the site the following season, saw the internet name
wba-fc.com, purchased and hosted with easily. The site started to at least
take some shape at this point with a better understanding of html. However the
site still lacked the professional touch and quality of others.
Software used: Hot Metal
Pro 6
Hosted on: Easily.co.uk
Average daily page impressions: 257
Style: Standard html
WBA-FC.Com
The
second revamp of the site in as many years was done for the new Premiership
season following Albion's return to the top flight. It for the first time also
contained a newswire solely for Baggies news from around the net. This season
was also the first time that the site hosted its own message board which was
initiated with the help of Paul Guest, who still retains his position as a
message board administrator.
Software used:
Microsoft FrontPage
Hosted on: Easily.co.uk
Average daily page impressions: 393
Style: Frames/CSS
WestBrom.Com
The
third revamp of the site, took place before the 2003-04 season which started
with a site merge between wba-fc.com and westbromwichalbion.net owned by Matt
Dumont. The site was comprised of the best bits from both partner sites and
was hosted on a new server which better fitted the sites requirements. The
site also sponsored two players this year which got the sites new url
westbrom.com into the official matchday programme. Unfortunately Matt had to
step down from the site due to his own work commitments after about a year. It
was at this point both Richard Hooper and Dale Brookes both got involved in
the sites progress. Dale contributed match reports and previews whilst Richard
co-edited the whole site along with Glenn. The site also integrated a php
based fan registry and prediction league into the fanzone section, whilst some
of the regular message board members took to creating their own league
football team aptly named westbrom.com fc. Sponsors were also enlisted this
season for the first time to help out with the running costs and site
improvements.
Software used:
Macromedia Dreamweaver
Hosted on:
Emarkhosting.com
Average daily page impressions: 11,240
Style: css/html/php
WestBrom.Com
The
fourth revamp of the site took place before the 2005-06 season and saw the
return of Dale Brookes for match reports and previews for approximately six
months. Richard Hooper also returned to the site this time as both co-editor
and part owner of the site along with Glenn Tuck. The 2006-07 sees some
further enhancements planned which should take the site onto its next level.
Software used:
Macromedia Dreamweaver
Hosted on:
Emarkhosting.com
Average daily page impressions: 29,489
Style: css/html/php
THE WEBSITE TEAM
The Webmaster
Himself
THE MESSAGE BOARD TEAM (Usernames in
brackets)
Administrators
B_H_Baggie (Ricci Dunn), Dudleylad (Gary Marshall), Phil Daniels (OldburyWBA).
Global Moderators
Aztech (Rich), kris_boing (Kris), Lloydy (Jon Lloyd), RowleyBaggie2
(Matt Johnson), Taff (Luke Morgan), WBAGinge (James), WBAinDevon (Glynn).
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Building the site, takes up a lot of our time, so the site is work in
progress. If you could help us out please get in contact or write your own
views and articles directly
to the site by using this feature here.
If you can help us out financially in any way please get in contact with the
site. For more information please
click here.
Some of the information on this site may have been extracted, modified or
clarified using various sources.