The introductory text should include a general account of how U3A study groups are started and run, including the role of the group leader or convenor, typical venues, meeting arrangements and costs. The names of individual groups, possibly with additional data about them, should be entered separately using the menu options below.
The form provides space for five group names to be entered. The maximum length of a group name is 30 characters — if one of yours has a longer name you will need to abbreviate it. When you Save the group data, you may choose whether to enter another five groups immediately, or see an alphabetic list of all the groups you have entered so far. Select Add groups again whenever you want to enter another batch.
If you wish you may also enter the day of the week and the time (morning or afternoon) when each group normally meets. If so, the group names will be shown on your website in two ways: as an alphabetic list and in a "timetable" format.
There is another field entitled "extras", where you can enter additional information about group meetings, e.g. whether they occur weekly, fortnightly, monthly or occasionally, and in which weeks(s) of the month. You are not obliged to fill in this field, but as information about meeting frequency may change from time to time, it is preferable to keep it in the "extras" field than to tack it onto the end of the group name!
The names of all your current groups will appear, together with their time and status. Click to select the one you want to change. The relevant group details will then be shown in editable form, and when you make the changes, the updated details will be displayed again for you to check.
You may change the name, day, time, and status of any group. If a group has ceased to run, or is temporarily in abeyance, simply change its status from Show to Hide. A "hidden" group name will not appear in the list in a public site, but will remain in the database so that it can be re-instated later if necessary.
Any group or set of related groups may have a separate page about it — see the group page help for full details. When changing a group, you will also be given the chance to link it to an existing group page, to edit the corresponding group page if there is one, or to make a new page if there isn't.
Group names with an associated page will appear on your public site as a blue underlined link, which users can click to take them to the relevant page. In the group list which you view as site editor, such group names will be underlined to remind you that they have an associated page.
The names of all your current groups will appear, together with their time and status. Click to select the one you want to remove. If the group has an associated group page, you will be asked for confirmation, as removing the group will also remove that page plus any other items solely dependent upon it, including pictures, events, contact addresses, links and sub-pages.
Caution: it is not a good idea to "remove" a group by blanking out its name! It will still be there on your site, but because you can no longer see it in the Site Builder editor, it is ver difficult to get rid of it.
Changes to the database will be made only when you click Save this data ... or Make these changes ... If you change your mind about a transaction at any time before that, simply select another menu item instead, or log out if you have finished with the site builder.