It is inevitable that the website will be something of a hotch-potch, because it is a combination of contributions from almost 20 different groups. However, this effect can be minimised if the various contributors adhere to the following guidelines:
Each group should have an overview page, supplying information which changes infrequently. This can include venues for general meetings and details of the committee members. This latter should be supplied as portfolio, name, telephone number (optional) and e-mail address (which will be concealed from trawling robots to avoid spam). This page must be in HTML format – if your group has no member capable of creating this, your U3A web contact (Peter Lawson for Cape Province, Colin Roberts for the rest of SA) will create and maintain the page for you. Note that creating HTML pages by exporting from MS Word is not an acceptable method.
The overview page can optionally have a link to the latest newsletter. This page can be in either HTML or PDF format.
The overview page can optionally have a link to the latest course list. This page can be in either HTML or PDF format.
Note the word latest in the paragraphs above. A very poor impression is created when such documents are several months out-of-date, and the webmaster will simply remove the link(s) if this happens.
Broadly speaking, these secondary documents should not normally duplicate information which is provided elsewhere, e.g. on the overview page. An exception is made when the documents are intended to be available for download.
You may wonder why we accept secondary documents in PDF format. Members using Firefox as a browser and Foxit as a PDF reader (both highly recommended free open-source software) can also install an add-on which makes these pages visible as if they were written in HTML. They are easily produced by installing PDFcreator, also free and open-source. They can be downloaded and printed using Foxit or Adobe Acrobat. Foxit can be downloaded via the U3A home page – further assistance in the use of Foxit or PDFcreator is available from the contacts named above.
If you use pdf format so that you can download newsletters, then by all means duplicate the information. There are several ways to get your newsletters and course lists to members. One way used by a number of groups is to set up mailing lists of members. The email message to them contains links to the newsletter and course lists. The recipients simply click on the links, and see a dialog box asking whether the page should be displayed or downloaded. If displayed, the file can still be saved on the member’s computer.
Contact Peter Lawson if you need advice on creating a mailing list on an external site such as Yahoo.
A standardised system of naming files has been established. Take for example Helderberg:
The names do not change for new issues, so there is no need to amend the links on the overview page. Please be sure to use the correct case (upper or lower), as the main host site for U3A SA is sensitive to the case. Note that only one link to each type of secondary document is provided.
Some groups have provided copies of their constitutions – these are all linked to a Constitutions page.
Some groups provide picture galleries of tours, events and visits. These pictures should be scaled down to a size suitable for display rather than high quality printing. Consult the instructions on resizing in your imaging software.
July 2009