Newsletter: March 2020

2019 Home Page
Shop
Group Necker Links

Dear fellow Scouter,

I hope and your family are safe and well at this challenging time.

I'd like to tell you about some of the recent changes to the Scouts Online platform. As ever, most of the new features have been suggested by fellow Scouts Online website users, like you and I. Thank you to Richard, Sylke, Aaron, Gareth, Alan, Ian and many others for your ideas. If you've got a good website idea, that could be of benefit to you and other Scouts Online users, please contact me.

Thank you for continuing to partner with Scouts Online. It's a pleasure to work with you.

If you know a Group, District, County, Region or Area that could benefit from a new website, I would appreciate it you could recommend Scouts Online to them and mention that we still offer a free-trial.

Yours in Scouting,

Chris

Scouting from Home - Promote to Your Members

During this challenging time, The Scouts have provided some excellent activities for young people to complete at home - See The Great Indoors.

Parents could also be encouraged to help their child complete activity badges at home and contact their section leader with proof of completion.

Spread the Word: I did consider creating new pages for this purpose, but decided that a news article or an email to parents could get the message out quicker. A possible news article is shown HERE.

If you'd like to replicate and change this news article on your group's website, here is some HTML source that you could copy/paste into a news article (after clicking [Source] button in the News Story editor).

You can also add the Great Indoors banner image to your news article, by moving to the Photographs & Images tab, clicking [Add File], selecting Scouts Online Files, ticking /SA_Banners/TheGreatIndoors.jpg and clicking [Add to News].

Once created, you could also share it on your facebook/twitter feed and by email. As always, email me if you want a hand.

Any Other Ideas?: If you've got more ideas and like to share them, contact me and I'll update this newsletter. So, keep an eye on this section for updates.

General Website Updates

New Home Page Design
2019 Home Page

In order to keep your website on-brand, a new home page design and website theme was built to compliment the latest www.scouts.org.uk look-and-feel. I'm pleased to say that these were launched in the same week that The Scouts website went live with their new website.

If you'd like to switch across to the new theme, simply change the Website Theme and Page Design fields in Admin/Group Details or Global Settings, or contact us.

Applies to all Group, District & County packages

Online Shop Suite - Coming Soon
Shop

We've built an online shop suite with a few different options:

  • Small Shop (Free): Limited to ten products in a single category. Order requests are emailed to you, without checkout integration.
  • Shop Form (£5/month): As above, with unlimited products/categories. We'll even populate it with all standard Scout badges!
  • Full Shop (£10/month): Unlimited products/categories. Checkout integration with payments and delivery options.

If you're interested in any of these options, please contact us for more details.

Applies to Group package 3 and District/County package 2

Youth & Adult Application Form
Youth Application From

We've reviewed the latest application forms from The Scouts and amended the full online forms to update/remove fields as required.

Applies to all Group, District & County packages

Badge Hyperlinks Updated
Badge Hyperlinks

Following the introduction of The Scouts new website, the badge information links on Scouts Online websites have been updated to open the badge details on the new www.scouts.org.uk website.

Badge detail hyperlinks are automatically added to badges displayed on sectional programmes, whether added manually or from the OSM programme integration. They're also available on group website badge pages and in the new shop suite.

Applies to all Group, District & County packages
#SkillsForLife
SkillsForLife

The default text displayed on all Scouts Online websites has been updated in line with the latest Skills For Life messaging.

This affects the home page "Who are we" block, home page header on older home page designs and text on pages for About Us, History, Adults, Group section home, promise & Law, sectional Join Us, Scout section home, Active Support section home, Join/Young People, Join/Waiting List, Join/Adult Volunteers and Join/Adult Vacancies. The Admin/News Management page has also been amended to show brand wording tips.

If you've overridden/personalised any of these HTML Content modules, you may want to update your own messaging.

Applies to all Group, District & County packages
Default Module Settings Overridden
Default Module Settings Overridden

It's now easier to see when the default content in a control module has been overridden and personalised.

After logging in as an Admin user, non-default content modules are now shown with a salmon coloured background.

Applies to Group packages 2 & 3 + all District & County packages
Easier Module Setup
Module Settings

For admin users, the Control module settings have been enhanced, so they open in a wide popup box.

Applies to Group packages 2 & 3 + all District & County packages
Header Image Tick
Add Images

When you attach files to news articles, blogs, events, photo albums, users and My Profile, it now automatically ticks the first image attached, as the Header Image.

Applies to Group package 2 & 3 + all District & County packages
User Management Users Per Page
User Management Users Per Page

A new field has been added to the Admin/User Management page to define the number of users per page displayed in the list.

Applies to Group package 2 & 3 + all District & County packages
RSS Feed Removed

If you are using the panelled home page design, you may have noticed that the UK Scouting News RSS feed has been removed, as The Scouts have stopped updating it.

Applies to Group packages 2 & 3 + all District & County packages
District, Area, Region & County Website Updates

Document Links Updated for You
Resource Links

As The Scouts have launched a new website and started to move content across to it, we've updated the default links in various places across all websites to make sure they point to the up to date pages. A list of the updated pages is shown below.

NB. If you've overridden/personalised the default links, you may want to review your own links.

  • About/Links: Updated POR link
  • All sections/badges: Right-hand badge links updated
  • YLs: Links updated and Missions link added
  • YLs: Removed "Delivering The YL Scheme" - Has anyone got this as a PDF?
  • Join/Adults: Training link updated
  • Adult Resources: Right-hand links updated
  • Adult Appointments: AR form updated
  • Adult Appointments: Removed Appointments Secretary role description, as it seemed outdated
  • Adult Appointments: Removed Appointing Adults
  • Adult Appointments: Removed Quick Reference Guide
  • Adult Appointments: Removed AAC Members
  • Adult Training: Updated links
  • Adult Awards: Updated links
  • Media: Renamed Role Description link
  • Members/AAC page: "Appointments Advisory Committee Members: A Guide" link added

If you find an outdated link or other documents that should be linked, please contact us.

Applies to District/County package 2
Optional Team List on Group Details Pages
Group Team List

If you have added users to each of your groups, you may want to show them in their group details page. Admin users can switch the new panel on in a group details page.

Applies to District/County package 2
Adult Award Nomination Form Updated
Adult Award Nomination Form

The Online Adult Award Nomination form has been updated to encompass all the current Scouts formatted forms. The appropriate fields show for the award being nominated for.

Applies to District/County package 2
NAN Form DC Field
NAN Form DC Field

For Counties, Areas and Regions, the Online NAN Form has been updated to add a District Commissioner field. When a section leader is completing a NAN form, they will now be prompted to select their DC. The resulting form will be sent to their DC, along with the other form recipients.

Applies to all County packages
Optional Home Page Group Links Panel
Group Necker Links

An optional panel has been added to the bottom of your website home page. If overridden and ticked, it will automatically show links to each of your groups.

Applies all District/County packages
Want More Teams & Event Types?
Event Types and Teams

If you have other teams that you'd like to showcase, we're now able to add teams and/or event types just for you. Contact us for more information.

Once added, you'll be able to assign users to a team in Admin/User Management, and add events for that event type in Admin/Event Management.

You can see how these can be used below.

Applies to District/County package 2
User-Definable Teams Pages

New team specific user-definable pages have been added to the About Us and Members menus.

Much like the standard user-definable Pages, once switched on, in Admin/Page Management, you can add an image banner, text, resource links, a contact form and links list. Additionally, you can also show an events list and team lists using the new modules discussed further down this document.

These pages could therefore be used to add a consolidated Training page, a Campsite management page, etc.

Applies to District/County package 2
Definable Events Lists
Event List Control

You may now personalise events lists on the new Team Pages and pages on the Members menu. You can define which team is shown, the list style and set a maximum height of the list.

List styles include Brief, Striped, Detailed, Training Modules, Striped Details, Calendar and Image Grid. Have a play around and see which you like best.

Applies to District/County package 2
Definable Team Lists
Team List Control

On the Meet The Team page, the Members pages and the new Team Pages, you can now personalise the teams lists. You may select multiple teams so the web page visitor can select the team they want to view, set the style of the list for each team and set the maximum height of the list.

List styles include Standard Table, Small Table, Hierarchical Table, Team List and Directory List. Pick the style that suits your page.

Applies to District/County package 2
Help Grow the Community

The more websites we supply, the more the platform will evolve to the benefit of us all. We would therefore appreciate your help by recommending Scouts Online to your neighbouring Groups, your DC, other Districts and your County/Area/Region. Thank you to all of you that have already done this - it's much appreciated.

It would really help if you could add a link to www.ScoutsOnline.co.uk on your next District/County/Region/Area newsletter or mention Scouts Online to your Scouting friends. You could also follow the Scouts Online Facebook Page and Like/Share any posts of interest.

Scouts Online builds websites for Scout Groups, Units, Districts, Regions, Areas, Counties and Campsites. Group and Unit websites can also include OSM integration.

Thank you for your help in anticipation.

Follow @ScoutsOnlineWebsites On Facebook

You can keep up to date with Scouts Online news by following the Scouts Online Facebook page HERE.