Group - New Group

A Group - New Group can only be created by sma2web2 members. Group - New Group content cannot be created by Authenticated users.

Group - New Group allows for the creation of a New Group and publishes that New Group's "Mission Statement". Groups allow for the creation of seperate sections on the soundhouse.org.au web site for people with similar interests, project development groups, professional associations, etc.

As the creator of a New Group you will also be able to determine various aspects of the group's behaviours, such as how people apply to join, whether the group is public or private, and so on.

Note: Many of the steps for creating different types of content are similar so this information may appear in some parts to be the same as for other types of content creation.

To use the Group - New Group content creation tool:

• You must be logged in as a sma2web2 member.
• Once logged in you should be able to see your user menu in the left sidebar. Click on Create content and note that there is summary information about each of the content types that you can create.
• Select Group - New Group - the "Create Group - New Group" form should load. Take some time to familiarise yourself with the different sections of the form. Note that some sections are collapsed and will need to be expanded to reveal their fields.
• When creating content using the "Create Group - New Group" form there are 6 sections that I would encourage all users to get into the habit of always filling in:
  • Title^* - Entering a title for your Group - New Group is mandatory. The Title of a New Group is used in group listings and menus, so it is important to keep it short and descriptive.
  • Description^* - This field is also mandatory. The Description field is where you give potential members and group applicants a short explanation of what the group is about.
  • Tags - Tags are optional, but are a fantastic way to help categorise your content and allow users to filter and search through content and posts. When entering tags use "keywords" or "keyphrases" that help define the content of your post, and seperate each tag with a comma. In thinking of what tags to use, ask yourself what subject or topic words would you use if you wanted to search for the post.
  • Mission Statement - This is self explanatory and essential to the success of clearly communicating to everyone exactly what your group is on about and what it hopes to achieve.

    Group mission statements often contain the following:

    • Purpose and aim of the group
    • The group's primary membership profile.
    • Responsibilities of the group toward the members
    • What the group offers
  • URL path settings - You will find this section further down the "Create Group - New Group" form. You will need to click on its title to expand this section. Generally, Drupal uses an address format that includes the term "node" and a reference number for the node's content. A typical Drupal URL might read as http://soundhouse.org.au/node/135 , making it an "unfriendly" URL. By entering a "friendly" name in the URL path settings, addresses become easier to remember and track and make more sense when viewed by other users. For example, I have entered HowToGroupNewGroup into the URL path settings field for this node of information so, instead of the web address showing up as http://soundhouse.org.au/node/135 it shows up as http://soundhouse.org.au/HowToGroupNewGroup. Note that both URLs will lead you to the same page, but the second one is easier to understand and is friendlier.
  • Membership requests^* - Once again, a mandatory section, and one that is unique to the "Create Group - New Group" form. Special consideration should be taken when filling out this section, as it determines the public visibility of the group and method by which members are added.

    By default all New Groups are set tp be public with open membership access but, as the New Group's creator, you are able to alter these settings to suit your needs. One thing to note is that if you wish your group to be a Private group you will need to make it Moderated, Invite only or Closed. If a group is set to Private then you cannot set it to List in groups directory. You may also choose the Registration form option to allow new users to apply for membership to the group when registering for a user account with the web site.

    For example, the SARB group has a Moderated membership and is set to List in groups directory. Anyone may view the group information page and apply to be a member of the group, but only those who are approved (they must be a Soundhouse Music Alliance member or affilliate) are able to view the group content.

    You will need to play around a bit with these options to arrive at the combination that you believe best suits your New Group. If you are the creator of a New Group you may change these settings by editing the Group - New Group form.
     

Other sections of the Create Group - New Group form are:

• Input format - This is to determine the type of input formats the user is allowed to use when the content of the blog entry is submitted to the database. In most cases this will be Full html and should not be changed from the default setting unless you are an experienced user and know what you are doing.
• File Attachments - This section can be used to upload and attach any type of file to your post. This file will appear as a hyperlink allowing registered users to download and save it to their own computer. Notice that it is possible to upload and attach more than one file to a post. To help minimise the amount of file pool allocation that is eaten up by file uploads, larger files or collections of files should be zipped.
• Location - By filling in this section you can provide a location reference for images or content within your post. The information filled in is embedded within the post as well as a link to Google Maps showing where the location is.
• Post to twitter.com - All new posts by sma2web2 members are automatically listed on the soundhouse.org.au twitter profile - SMA_Tweeters. A "tweet" is sent listing the title of the post as well as a link to the post shown as a "tinyurl". If you do not wish your post to be published to SMA_Tweeters, please be sure to un-tick the Post to twitter.com tick box.
• Notifications - are messages sent to users who have set up their accounts to receive notifications of new posts in general or users who have subscribed to any of your posts. If you specifically don't want anyone to be notified of your new Group - New Group you may tick the Do not send notifications for this update box, otherwise you can leave it unticked.
• Creative Commons licenses - You may select the level of Creative Commons licensing (if any) that you would like associated with your Group - New Group posting. You can go to the Creative Commons web site to find out more about the various types of Creative Commons licensing.

Using Group - New Group To Create Your Own Blog-Like Section

The Create Group - New Group form can be easily used to create a seperate section on the soundhouse.org.au web site that you can use as your own individual blog area, as opposed the general site based blog section (see "How To..." Blog Entry).

To do this, create a Group - New Group content type with a title that makes it readily identifiable as your blog and set its Membership requests^*  section to Closed and List in groups directory.

This will enable you to create a group that you control the membership of, whilst it is still listed and accessible via the groups directory.

Finally, to post blog-like entries to your "blog-group", you can use the "Create Group Blog Entry" link in your blog's panel. (For more information about creating a group block entry see the "How To..." Access Your Groups and "How To..." Post to a Group sections).

Finishing Up

Once you have filled in all the sections of the Create Group - New Group form that you wish to, you can use either of the Preview or Save buttons found at the bottom of the form to continue. Preview will show a preview of the Book page  in a yellow coloured section at the top of a preview page with the option to make further editing changes beneath the preview section. Save will publish your Group - New Group information for viewing and create your New Group.

If you are the creator/owner of a Group you will be able to Edit it, change Membership requests settings, or even delete it at a later stage via the Edit option which will be found in the title area of any of your published content.