The Web Site Gets An Upgrade

The Web Site Gets An Upgrade

The ICUFR web site is built with Joomla! – the free modular system running on PHP and the MySQL database that now powers 2.7% of all web sites.  After three years without a major overhaul, Joomla! has been modified to allow simple, regular upgrades.  Unfortunately the first step along the path (from version 1.5 to 1.6) was a fairly major step up which breaks most of the templates and modules which we were using.  We have now made the transition to version 1.7 and the good news is that many of the facilities of the old site have been significantly improved.

The template that determines how the site looks has changed because the previous templates were supplied as part of the v 1.5 installation and haven’t been ported to v 1.6+ sites.  The new template has a dynamic layout and as the browser window is compressed or stretched sideways it does a reasonable job of making best use of the space available. Hopefully it should not be too controversial but we shall have to wait and see.

What may catch the attention is a facility to ‘Log in’ to the site.  This is NOT needed to view and read the contents, but it does allow members of the ICUFR to submit links and articles for use on the site.  When someone joins the fellowship they are automatically registered on the site, and can have their ‘username’ emailed to them if they click the ‘Forgot your username?’ link.  Once you have your username you can click the ‘Forgot your password?’ to set your choice of password.

When you log on to the site you will see a ‘User Menu’ with the following options:

• Submit a Web Link (web editor for your comments)
• Submit an Article (web editor with facilities to upload graphics)
• Newsletter Options (stop/start sending)
• Edit your details (change your email address).

We will give details of how to use these in articles for the newsletter.

A couple of items return to the web site that have been seen before.  There is a Poll, which now can be linked to an article or relevant web site.  And after much struggling behind the scenes our ‘Buy a Pin’ advert is finally working again.  For anybody else struggling to get a PayPal ‘Buy Now’ button working on Joomla! our advice is to give up and buy Big Al’s PayPal module.

There have been modest improvements to the ‘Join Us’ form, and an upgrade to the newsletter module will allow us to personalise and filter our mailings.  Taken overall the upgrade to the site should enable us to build better communication with our members.

Chairman's Message - November 2011

Chairman's Message - November 2011

Appointment to the Board

As mentioned in the August newsletter we have lost two board members who have left Rotary.  To fill one of the vacant slots for the rest of the current year we have co-opted past chairman David Flinn to join the board. Dave has been a member from the beginning of the fellowship and his experience will be very welcome. We would be pleased to hear from any other members who are interested in serving on the board.

An ICUFR Facebook Page

Since August we have had a Facebook page which has steadily attracted fans - but we would welcome more!.  It can be found at www.facebook.com/icufr or you can click the 'Like' box on this web site.  Over the last three months there have been 60 links posted to interesting blogs and useful tech sites.  These include articles by ICUFR member Richard DeFord on his choice of mobile apps.  Richard contacted me and is now an admin for the page and adds his own links.  If any other members would like to contribute links or updates please contact me.

There are a growing number of Facebook pages for Rotary Clubs.  They can be a good way of establishing links with members of a local community.  If you are interested in creating a page for your club or organisation and don't know where to start, see the guide in this newsletter.

Website Upgrade

In September our web site was upgraded from Joomla 1.5 to 1.7 which was a bigger step than we expected.  For those who haven't read the article on the upgrade it has been included in this newsletter.  The site now gives us more information about new members such as the browser they use and the screen resolution.  This is helpful in customising web sites but also hints at the sophistication of the members.  They use Safari, Firefox and Chrome but so far none of the new members were using Internet Explorers to fill in the application form.

Roger Siddle
Chairman ICUFR