22 Nov Group Representation on the FHA Website
The FHA website has a number of ways Fearrington affinity groups can have a “presence” of their own. This document will spell out the mechanics of helping a new group get started.
Bulletin Board and FHA Newsletter
Anyone (with a website login) can use the website’s Bulletin Board to assess community interest and support in forming a new group. The Forum (linked on the top menu) is another, more structured way of establishing interest and ongoing communications if the group wishes to use it.
The Bulletin Board is the most popular feature of the website, garnering about twice as many “hits” or page-views as the rest of the site combined.
Groups Directory
The Groups Directory on the FHA website is accessible from the Groups drop-down on the top menu. The link is “Groups Portal”. The top line of the Portal page has a link entitled “Search Clubs and Organizations Directory”, which has facilities to search for groups by title and/or content, or list all the available groups.
Getting into the Groups Directory is very easy. A responsible party from the group can send an email to groups@fearringtonfha.org and specifying
- The name of the group;
- A short paragraph describing the group and including contact information for those who might like more information;
- Whether the group is Fearrington-residents-only (yes or no);
- A website address for the group. If any; and
- A name and contact email address for communications about the listing, e.g., annual reminder to check and update the group description..
Advantages of a Group Directory listing:
- It’s very easy;
- Contact info on the website visible only to logged-in residents through use of [shh]…[/shh] markup;
- The complete listing appears in the printed FHA Directory and Handbook (D&HB); and
- Changes are made by emailing the same groups@… address.
Disadvantages:
- It’s space-limited;
- Content not usually changed except for contacts.
Group Website on FHA Website
Making a group website as part of the FHA website entails up-front effort and a continuing commitment to keeping the site current. The FHA Website Managers can provide advice and guidance to help prospective groups get started with their web presence, but creating and editing content will be the responsibility of the group.
Groups contemplating a website of their own will want to look at other groups’ websites to get an idea of the kinds of information that can be put on a website. Things to think about:
- Logo. Does your group have a logo? Most groups to, and their logos appear on the Groups Portal page, linked to the home page of the group. Logos on the Group Portal are reduced to about 150 x 150 pixels.
- Navigation. Usually the navigation to different areas of the group website is done by arranging links around the logo to form the site’s navigation module. This module is created by the FHA web team and is invoked on every group page so a reader can get to any page on the site from anywhere else on the site.
- Content Creation and Editing. As mentioned above, the group is responsible for creating their own content as web pages. Training in the use of the website editor will be provided as needed. The website editor we use is not MS Word or Apple Pages, but it provides adequate formatting capabilities to create all the content you see on any of our group web pages.
- Ongoing Maintenance. “If someone revisits a web site they’ve been to before, and the content is the same, they won’t return a third time.” An unchanging website will not get much traffic. So groups must have a strong commitment to keeping their site up to date. New material might include meeting summaries, reports of field trips, game/tournament publicity and results, membership changes, etc.
When a new group website is created, it will be linked on the Groups Portal (using its logo) and by name in the Groups A-Z drop-down menu.
Administrator Actions for New Group Website
Create new User Group | The login for each publisher will be changed so each authorized content creator for the group is a member of this group. See below “Edit Group Publisher Logins”. In the Administrator back-end, open the Groups list under the Users drop-down on the top menu Create a New user group. Its name should be the name of the group, plus a space, then the word “Publisher” (or ”Publ.”) . Set its Parent group to “Registered”. [This provides the new group to inherit the privileges of a registered, logged-in user.\ Save, and the new group is created. |
Create New Category | In the Administrator back-end, open the Categories list under the top menu’s Content drop-down. Create a new group with the Title being the group’s name. Set the Parent category (drop-down on the right) to “– Group Pages”. |
Create Sub-Categories | Create a new group with the Title being an abbreviation of the group’s name followed by a space and “Home & News”. [This will be the group’s Home Page category for category blog layout pages – highly recommended!] Save Repeat to create a “Static” category for miscellaneous documents not intended to appear on the home page. Save Repeat for any other categories the group representative wants. |
Give Access Privileges for the new Categories to the new Publisher group | Re-Open the main group category (Step 2 above) for editing. In the row of tabs under the Title click Permissions. Scroll down to find the group publisher title you defined in step 1 above, and click the title. Scroll back to the top and to the right you will see three columns: Action, Select New Setting and Calculated Setting. All will initially be set to “Not Allowed” Set all five Actions to a New Setting of Allowed. Save [This permits members of the group publisher user group to perform these actions on articles in the main group category and all subordinate categories.] |
Edit Group Publisher Logins | Open the User Manager. From the main Admin page, open “Manage” under the “Users” drop-down. Locate the first or only group publisher in the list and click the name (left column) to edit the user. Click the “assigned User Groups” tab. Scroll down to the group publisher group name and check the box next to the name. [This gives the user membership in the group publisher group so s/he can exercise the permissions granted in Step 4 above.] ALSO scroll up or down until you find the group named “Group Publisher” and check the box next to it. [Membership in this group allows the person to see the “My Articles” and “Create a Website Article under the “Newsletter drop-down on the main site’s top menu.] Save. [The user must now logout if logged in, and login again for the permissions set above to “take”.] |