By Paul Nyberg

Town Crier Publisher

The Los Altos Town Crier created losaltosonline.com in late 1994 to give the city a presence on the Internet. Los Altos Online (LAOL) was, in fact, one of the first citywide sites on the entire worldwide Web.

In addition to providing free Web space for non-profit organizations, churches, schools and city governments in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, LAOL gives exposure to the business community.

Though most organizations in the community now have their own Web sites, nearly all started on the LAOL server in the “early days” including Rotary, Kiwanis, Los Altos Hills city hall, Los Altos Community Foundation, Rancho Shopping Center, Los Altos Village Association, Bullis-Purissima Elementary School and countless others. All are still linked to LAOL as a network.

LAOL is well-used, averaging between 3,000 and 4,800 visitors a day generating 25,000 to 40,000 hits.

The Los Altos Town Crier archives have been an important and popular part of the Web site content from the beginning. A search engine, such as Google, can find every reference to a given subject in past issues of the Town Crier.

The following number of stories or references to various groups have appeared in the Los Altos Town Crier since 1995: Los Altos Chamber of Commerce, 335; Los Altos Village Association, 383; Los Altos Cultural Association, 33; Los Altos Rotary Club, 189; Los Altos Kiwanis Club, 75; Los Altos Community Foundation, 159; Los Altos City Council, 897; Los Altos Hills City Council, 269; Los Altos School District, 784; Los Altos Millennium Celebration, 28; and Packard Foundation, 176.

The professional appearance and weekly updates of losaltosonline.com have been possible because of two volunteers: Los Altans Carol Watts and Jim Campbell. Every Tuesday, week in and week out, Watts and Campbell have been in the Town Crier office translating the content of that week’s issue into HTML, the language of the Internet.