Hi everyone,

I modified the necessary files (according to this post) so that the ICQ field in a user's profile is now the phone number field. I need to change the length of this text box in the Group Administration form, but can't figure out how... can anyone help?

(I've already increased the text fields in mysql).

Thanks in advance,

Kristine

I switched back to the original template and found it hiding under the webmasters group... very odd!

Thanks very much James for helping me troubleshoot, I appreciate it!

Sorry, I should've included that... I'm only getting an unrelated cbb error Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks,

Kristine

Okay... I'm working in 2.0.13.1 and I accidentally created a custom block without a title. I need to make changes to the content, and it's not appearing in my block administration list. I've checked all the groups, and the block isn't showing up anywhere.

What's the fix for this?

Thanks in advance,

Kristine

Quote:

Excellent post James.

Donating $, helping out on these forums (in my own limited way) and promoting XOOPS to everyone I see is about all I have the capacity to do.

If there was a way to set up a subscription to donate $ on a monthly basis, I would totally be into that. To be honest, I donate when I remember to donate.

If there was a way I could pledge an amount of money each month, that would be awesome -- then I wouldn't even have to think about it, it would just happen.

Just a suggestion

In the meantime, I'll do a better job of remembering to donate...

Kristine

Thank you everyone, I appreciate your well thought out answers. I know how busy everyone is and I appreciate the time you took to respond to my post.

Reintjan - the coffee corner and e-cards are a great idea. Thanks for suggesting this.

Sleo577 - I imagine you're using the multisite hack? I am in the process of building yet another XOOPS site, which will have very disparate groups. Your idea of ensuring each group views the site as their own is definitely something I need to keep in mind.

Madfish - your three points are right on the money. Having the entire management team support the site is so important. Defending the reasons why our organization needed an intranet at the launch/staff meeting should've been my first clue that this was going to be an uphill battle! As the one year anniversary is coming up, perhaps this is a good time to put out a survey/get feedback from staff as to what's working and not working on the site. I've also decided that with each new employee, I'll create their account and set notifications so they get an email when content is added to certain modules. (It's too bad we can't do this as an admin.) In addition, I'm going to do a little overview demo for new employees to acquaint them with the site.

Mith - thanks for providing those resources. I certainly have some reading to do! You know what they say, "The only people who like change are wet babies."

I just gotta say... I really appreciate the XOOPS community. You guys rock!

Thanks again,

Kristine

LB and Shine, thank you both for your responses.

I wasn't so much asking for a detailed plan on how to get users to use the XOOPS sites I've created, but rather if other people were having a similar experience in promoting online collaboration to non-technical people and if anyone had any suggestions.

It's one thing to open a XOOPS site to a bunch of developers and have them use it... it's a different story when we're talking about users who have limited internet skills.

And Shine, I agree. People don't want to spend the time to learn how to use the sites. Whether it's laziness or fear, or a mixture of both, I don't know.

Perhaps I should rephrase my original question to: For those of you who have successfully implemented XOOPS sites for non-technical groups, what three things did you do to ensure success?"

I need some support/ideas/suggestions guys. (Or maybe just a good therapist and a prescription for valium)

I work for a small non-profit (less than 50 employees) in the social services field. (Translation: Not tech people.) Last fall, I launched our XOOPS Intranet with all the bells and whistles. At the launch, I spent the better part of the staff meeting defending why our organization needed an Intranet. (The common complaint being that it's just one more thing they have to check every day. In the past, people got a flurry of emails as to who was going to be where that day). Slowly but surely, the staff began to log on and at the very least, use the calendar to find out who's in/out for the day.

In addition to the basics (pical, links, staff list, smartfaq, headlines, suggestion box, xdirectory, downloads, forums), I've got all our policies and procedures online, and I've even created Camtasia tutorials on how to post news articles, send private messages, post calendar events, all our templates are online, etc etc. I've posted pictures of our holiday parties and different events. I've written articles about how blogging is changing the way non-profits get their message out and articles on how portals can be used. I've tried to get articles posted whenever a new employee is hired.

Fast forward to a year later. The only thing being used by everyone is the calendar. People are still sending mass emails to staff instead of posting their messages on the Intranet. I'm the only one posting news articles. The forums are a ghost town.

In the past year, I was asked to create 4 more XOOPS sites, only one of which has been officially launched. This site is not very interactive, mainly because there is no online facilitation of discussion (which is not my job).

I've been trying to pinpoint the barriers to having a successful XOOPS site, and have come up with the following:

1) The whole notion of online collaboration is new to people -- especially people who aren't techies. It's almost as if people are scared of the technology. I've built these sites with everything they need to collaborate online... how do I entice them to use it?

2) To a non-techie, XOOPS is intimidating. I'm in the process of creating flash tutorials on how to use the news module, calendar, etc. People don't want to spend the time to learn how to use it. (I can't tell you how many times I've had to manually reset a password because people can't or won't follow the instructions on generating a new one!)

Are other people experiencing similar problems? Do you have any suggestions for me?

I could use all the help (and support) I can get right now...

thanks,

Kristine

Like gestroud says, you have to upgrade in steps... remember to back the site up first (can't stress this enough!) If you've never done an upgrade before, the tutorial here:http://www.warpigw2.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=18 is great!

Kristine

I think I understand what you're saying... I use the xf_newsmod_blocks to have different blocks show the headlines from each news category.https://xoops.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2181

Take care,

Kristine