Website
History
Beginnings
The first incarnation of Iota Phi on the Internet was not necessarily through a webpage, but through a Gopher, a menu-based protocol designed for distributing, searching, and retrieving documents over the Internet. This was created by Anna Ng in the mid-1990s, but was quickly phased out as the Internet rapidly changed. The first Iota Phi chapter website was created by Michael Wong and Ernie Hsiung, the Corresponding Secretaries in Fall of 1995. In 1999, the website featured an online roster and photo gallery, with server side logic done through perl. By February, the website fully supported adding events to a Java-based calendar.
The website's URL has changed over the years. While previously hosted on personal webspace, the website eventually was hosted by UC Davis, with the now-dead URL http://asucd.ucdavis.edu/organization/greek/aphio/, as well as http://aphio.ucdavis.edu. Ryan Tong began trying to create www.iotaphi.org in August 2001. Ryan put up the first version of this website by January 21, 2002. However, the task of maintaining the website with content, code, graphics, and collection of information was unfortunately too large for him alone, and without the adequate time to complete the project, he had to leave it unfinished on February 20, 2002.
Modern IotaPhi.org
In Spring 2004, Erik Staab created the modern incarnation of IotaPhi.org. This version of the website revolutionized chapter operations by making all event-tracking digital. Prior to this change, officers would have members sign up for events on paper at meetings and would track all events on paper. Adding to this efficiency gain, the website incorporated more sophisticated PHP and MySQL coding to feature a searchable roster, name quiz, line viewer, budgetary tracking, and a newly coded calendar catered more specifically toward Iota Phi's needs. Not only did the website gain features useful for typical active members, but it gained many features for the Executive Committee's use, including the ability to create events on the calendar, add and remove users from events, assign chairs, and a whole host of other useful features.
Iota Phi Wiki
On December 14, 2005, Erik Staab installed and configured Iota Phi Wiki. The Wiki quickly became a means of recording information about Iota Phi's members, structure, and other quirks. Iota Phi Wiki articles were originally very informally written but still managed to record many useful facts that were not found elsewhere about the chapter's history and culture post-2000. While many articles are more formally written today, many pages about members and inside jokes remain informal and for the user's amusement.
In June 2009, Iota Phi Wiki went through a major overhaul. This revamp involved placing each of the approximately 1,700 articles at the time into appropriate categories, re-designing the front page, and adding Portal pages to make browsing the Wiki easier. Over the coming year, the Wiki gained new features such as Infoboxes, Navboxes, Stub Templates, and Event Report forms. During the 2009-2010 year, the majority of Iota Phi Wiki's non-member articles were modified to standardize their formatting and add substantive content.
Redesign
In Fall 2008, Webmaster Isaac Liao implemented a new CSS-based layout designed by Michelle Chow to give the website a more modernized look. This so-called "Spiffy" layout retained all of the back-end coding and was primarily an aesthetic change. Since its implementation, several new things were featured on the front page, including recent forum posts, polls, newly created calendar events, upcoming events, and more.
Most recently, in Fall 2009, Mitty Chang modified the layout again to a white and gold theme with a new header. In Spring 2010, Mitty implemented a new banner in celebration of the new pledge class. Lastly, Jhonatan Paredes updated the layout to add more blue to the scheme and a newer banner for the pledging term.
Hacking
At approximately 6:58 AM PST on March 13, 2010, IotaPhi.org was externally hacked by anonymous Italian hackers. The attacking party was able to gain access to the file server and wipe all the existing files. The database system was intact, so no tracking, calendar information, user details, nor passwords were compromised. Webmasters were made aware of these attacks four hours later, and they immediately began changing passwords, contacting the hosting department, patching the SQL, disabling any modified scripts, and temporarily restoring the website to an old version of the website. While the backup was roughly half a year out of date, by the end of Spring 2010, the website was just about running at full functionality with a stronger security system than ever before.
Iota Phi Mobile
On September 14, 2010, Webmaster Jhonatan Paredes unveiled Iota Phi Mobile, a version of the website meant to make the chapter's website more accessible on mobile phones. Initially developed for iPhones, a revised version is also in progress to support Android phones.
Open Source
IotaPhi.org's code is open source to the extent that any interested member of Alpha Phi Omega may request a copy of the code from an Iota Phi Webmaster by contacting admin@iotaphi.org. Along with the code, Webmasters of other chapters may also request a User's Manual that explains how to use all executive features for chapter officers. The website is additionally stored as a Google Code project to track bugs and updates.
Users of IotaPhi.org's Design
The following chapters have implemented IotaPhi.org's design and modified it to their chapter's needs:
- Chi: http://www.apo-x.org
- Kappa Sigma: http://apoks.org
- Omicron Zeta: http://www.aphiooz.org
- UC Merced Petitioning Group: http://www.apoucm.org