Newsletter: December 2016

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Hi,

As we come to the end of a busy year, I would like to give you a brief update on Scouts Online.

During the year, more groups and districts have been welcomed into the Scouts Online community.

The benefits, features and functionality of the website platform have also increased. The majority of the enhancements have been requested by Scouts Online users like you, so I would like to say a big thank you for all your suggestions.

One of the original objectives for Scouts Online was that features and pages added for one group should automatically be added to other websites in the community to benefit others. Gone are the days when we all replicated the same content for ourselves. If you have any ideas for new features, pages or improvements, please contact me. We've all got common goals, so it's great that we can work together.

I'm constantly looking for new groups and districts to work with and would appreciate your help. If you know of a group or district that would benefit from a new website, I would appreciate it if you could recommend www.ScoutsOnline.co.uk to them and pass on my contact details.

Thank you for continuing to partner with Scouts Online. It's been great working with you. Have a great Christmas.

Yours in Scouting,

Chris

Website Feature Updates

User Management Search

With the introduction of Meet The Team and District Directory pages, you may now have a large number of users within your website.

To make it easier to find the user you want to edit, a new Search facility has been added to filter the users listed in User Management.

You can search for users by part of the first name, surname, first name + surname or email address.

Applies to Group package 2 & 3 and District/County package 1 & 2 websites

Links List - Menu Layout

A new style has been added to the Links List control.

You can now add sub-menus to your user definable pages with the same look-and-feel as sectional sub-menus.

Applies to Group package 2 & 3 and District/County package 1 & 2 websites

Improved Login Redirects

When setting up an event or a photo album, you can set the privacy level so that only registered users, such as leaders or parents, can view them.

When a website visitor tries to view the content, they are shown a page explaining that the content is private and they need to login or register to view it.

Now, after logging in, the visitor will be redirected straight to the event or photo album without the need of manually navigating to it.

Tip: You can copy/paste links for news articles, events or photo albums into your emails using the link shown at the bottom of the admin/management page for each of these.

Applies to Group package 3 and District/County package 1 & 2 websites

PayPal Payments

Whether you would like to collect subs, charge for camps or raise funds through donations, this is now possible from your website.

PayPal button technology has been encapsulated into a control on a new Members/Payments page and also been made available in your user definable pages.

The PayPal control allows you to define a list of payment types, such as Beaver Subs, Cub Subs, Camp fees, etc.

For each payment type, you may prompt for a description of the payment, set a price or prompt for a donation amount, set or prompt for a quantity, ask for an addition prompt (e.g. Child's Name) and request the users email address.

After the user completes the required fields and clicks the [Pay Now] button, they will be taken to the PayPal site to complete the payment.

Applies to Group package 2 & 3 and District/County package 1 & 2 websites

Link & Image Banner Setup

By popular demand, arrow buttons have been added to the setup tables for the Links List, Image Banner and new PayPal controls.

When setting up or editing these controls, you can now change the display order of each row by clicking the Up or Down arrow buttons.

Applies to Group package 2 & 3 and District/County package 1 & 2 websites

Bulk User Upload

If you have a large number of users to add, a service is now offered to upload details directly from a spreadsheet.

Please contact Scouts Online to get a copy of the template spreadsheet and arrange for the upload to be processed.

Applies to Group package 3 and District/County package 2 websites

Group Website Updates

Google Calendar Sync

Google calendar integration allows you to share your Google calendar events throughout your website, not just on a single page like traditional Google calendars frame.

Integration is setup in Section Details so that you can have a calendar per section and a calendar for group wide events.

Once imported into your website, events can be enhanced to add your photos or Scouting images and then advertised on page banners, in sectional programmes and more.

You can find out more from support documentation for Event management.

Applies to Group package 3 websites

District and County Website Updates

Google Calendar Sync

Google calendar integration allows you to share your calendar events throughout your website - not just on a single page like traditional Google calendars.

When one of your managers creates an event on your Google calendar, they may add 'Tokens' to the description text. The website integration interprets these tokens when creating the events.

Some examples of the use of tokens is shown below:

ADCs:
Adding <<Scouts>> will flag the event as a Scout event and once imported into the website, it will automatically be advertised in the Sections/Scouts page.
Training Manager:
Adding <<AdultTraining:Module1>> will flag the event as a adult training module 1 course and therefore advertise the event on the Adult Training Diary page.
Young Leaders:
Adding <<YLTraining:ModuleA>> will flag the event as a young leader training module A course and advertise the event on the Sections/Explorers/Young Leaders page.

Once imported into your website, events can be further enhanced to add your photos or Scouting images and then advertise on page banners, in the training diary, YL page and more.

You can find out more from support documentation for Event management.

Applies to package 2 websites

Group Social Links

Where a group has a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram or Pinterest account, links to these are now shown on the Group Details page for that group.

Applies to package 2 websites

Edit Users From Directory

When you spot a mistake in a user's details in the Directory page, it's now possible for Site Admin users to open up the user's details and edit them directly from there.

Applies to package 2 websites

Scouts Online Facebook Page

Scouts Online YouTube Channel

Newsletter: December 2016

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