Dear HarmonySite administrator,

The latest change to your HarmonySite is the revamp of the Administration area, plus a new user menu in the top-right corner.

The reason that the revamp was needed was because the existing Administration system was a bit disorganised, and not easy to find the admin option you wanted.  For example, SOME admin options were to be found in the set of links in the "Administration" box on the main Members page:

...while OTHER admin pages were to be found in the drop-down list in that same box:

But even these two areas didn't completely encompass all the places in your system that you could do admin.  Some aspects of the system, such as events, were administered by actually going to a public-facing or Members page (such as the "Event Calendar" page) and doing your admin from there.

Moreover, the links in the above box were not arranged in any logical order, not even alphabetical.

So we've gathered together links to ALL pages that you could do admin on, and put them all onto one new page, called the "Administration Dashboard".  This new dashboard has a link to EVERY page from which you can administer the system (including public-facing and members pages, such as "Event Calendar"), logically grouped together into various admin "AREAS".  Examples of admin areas are "Members", "Events", "Financial", etc.  The new Admin Dashboard page is even searchable.

This new admin dashboard is accessed via a new "Admin" link in the top-right corner of the page (just to the left of the little "cog" icon, if that cog icon is visible to you).  Naturally, your members will only get to see admin links that are applicable to their access privileges.

NOTE:  This is phase one only!

We've left the original "Administration" box on the main Members page there for now.  We will be removing it in about a month, to give you all an opportunity to get used to the new Admin Dashboard.  So I encourage you to start using the Dashboard for all your administrative tasks, so you can get used to it, and even offer us feedback.

Again, "phase 2" will be the removal of the "Administration" box from the main Members page, which will happen in about a month.

New User Menu

The other part of this revamp is the new "user menu" in the top-right corner of the site (which now also contains the "Admin" link).  See the screenshot below...

This new user menu is in alignment with current web fashions - positioning links to all "user functions" in one place (top-right), making them accessible on ALL pages in your HarmonySite, not just the main Members page.  Note that ALL people that log into your site get to see this user menu, not just admins.

Tip:  There's a photo of the logged in user in the user menu.  Photos will display best if they're SQUARE (not landscape or portrait).  800 x 800 pixels is ideal.

This user menu will replace two other items on the main Members page:  The "Update My Details" box, and the "Change Password" icon.  Both of these will be removed in a month when the "Administration" box is removed.

Note also that when you're NOT logged in, that area of the screen in the top-right corner now displays your social media icons (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc) - if you have any.

Please advise all administrators in your organisation about these changes (and possibly all regular members as well).

Have a play with the new user menu and Administration Dashboard.  We welcome your feedback.  Are there ways that these could be improved?

If you don't see these new items, or the page looks weird or wrong, then refresh the page a couple of times or clear your browser's cache.  If it still looks wrong, please email a screenshot.  Email it to ME (via return email), not support@harmonysite.com.

I believe there are one or two groups that use HarmonySite that have completely turned off the top line of their website.  Those groups won't even see the new user menu, and thus will have no way to access the Admin Dashboard.  For the moment that won't be a problem, but after the 3 items are removed from the main Members page, they'll have no way to access their admin links, nor will their members have an easy shortcut to update their details.  If you're one of those groups, please contact me to discuss this.

Enjoy,

Mark Virtue

HarmonySite

Australia

+61 2 8005 4277 (Australian number)

In North America, call:  1-415-651-7009 (San Francisco number)

Skype name:  mvirtue

mark@harmonysite.com

www.harmonysite.com