http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001 Here is a blog by the creator of iGrOOps documenting updates and improvements to iGrOOps en Copyright 2008, iGrOOps Devel and Support Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:52:10 GMT Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:52:10 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000213#00000213 <p>Most recently uploaded images now appear at the top of your image gallery.</p> <p>Note: IE has a bug that fails to display some thumbnail images.&nbsp; This is not an issue in FireFox or Safari.</p> Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:52:10 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000212#00000212 <p>You can now display today's events from your calendar on your homepage, top center.&nbsp; This is great for really calling attention to the events of the day.&nbsp; This is done by checking the option in the homepage editor under the calendar section.</p> <p>For an example see <a href="http://www.evcast.com/members/evcast">http://www.evcast.com/members/evcast</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:04:50 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000211#00000211 <p>Welcome the newest application to the iGrOOps family: live broadcasting!&nbsp; This is perfect for one-to-many audio and/or video communication with your members, while allowing your members to offer&nbsp;real-time feedback via the text chat.</p> <p>For complete details and implementation instructions, see <a href="http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/docs/adminman/live_broadcasting">http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/docs/adminman/live_broadcasting</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Sat, 31 May 2008 11:34:47 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000210#00000210 <p>You can display public profiles... this is ideal for company directories, or any other situation where you want to share select member's names, photos, and bios with the non-registered public.</p> <p>The public profiles are a little different where they show the larger photo and full bio, with no other info.&nbsp; See and example here:</p> <p><a href="http://www.evcast.com/members/evcast+memberspublic+Your%20Hosts+Bo.Ryan">http://www.evcast.com/members/evcast+memberspublic+Your%20Hosts+Bo.Ryan</a></p> <p>To create these, it is a two step process:</p> <p>1) for privacy, the member MUST edit his or her profile and select the new "allow my name,photo, and bio to be public" option.&nbsp; This is in the first section of the edit profile screen.</p> <p>2) Now you can construct the URL that will display the members.&nbsp; Here is the format:</p> <p>http://YOURDOMAIN/members/YOURFOLDER+memberspublic+ANY_NAME_FOR _SELECTED_MEMBERS+member1.member2.member3</p> <p>broken down:</p> <p>http://YOURDOMAIN/members/YOURFOLDER</p> <p>simply your display URL for your igroops home page</p> <p>+memberspublic</p> <p>the part of the URL that activates this listing. This does not change</p> <p>+ANY_NAME_FOR _SELECTED_MEMBERS</p> <p>this can be any name you want to use as the display name for the selection of members you are displaying such as "Staff" or "Our Company". Hint: if using spaces, substitute the spaces with "%20" - the URL equivalent to a space.&nbsp; So "Our Company" would look like "Our%20Company" in the URL.</p> <p>+member1.member2.member3</p> <p>This is simply your list of member nicknames separated by a single period.&nbsp; You can have as many as you like.</p> Sun, 25 May 2008 19:29:44 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000209#00000209 <p>In the blog application, you can now block certain guests from commenting if you have that feature enabled.&nbsp; This works by setting a cookie on the guests browser. When you block them, you are identifying them by the cookie.&nbsp; As long as they do not clear cookies, they will not be able to comment again.</p> <p>You can clear your blocks in your admin options for the blog app.</p> <p>This will only work for new comments posts from this point onward.</p> Sat, 24 May 2008 13:56:44 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000208#00000208 <p>You can now choose on a per video/MP3 basis, to allow users to download and save your media file to their local harddrive!</p> <p>For existing files, edit the record, and choose the "allow download..." option.&nbsp; The MP3 or Flash video will then have a download icon on the player. Clicking this will allow the user to download the file.</p> <p>Note that external videos and&nbsp;swf files cannot be downloaded.</p> Thu, 22 May 2008 18:54:38 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000207#00000207 <p>You can now opt to allow others to download audio/video content in your blogs.&nbsp; When you choose this option in the global setting for the blog, all A/V players will have a download icon on it when clicked will prompt the user to save the file to his or her local disk.</p> Tue, 20 May 2008 15:46:25 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000206#00000206 <p>When you create or edit a post for an existing blog/podcast, you can now add an itunes URL (if a podcast and if on itunes).&nbsp; You can also replace your member photo and info associated with your blog with a general image that will not associated your member info with the blog/podcast.&nbsp; This is helpful for blogs/podcasts with multiple contributors.&nbsp; For an example see</p> <p><a href="http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/igroops/msb/blog/VIEW/00000008/00000043/The-Psychology-of-Members.html">http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/igroops/msb/blog/VIEW/00000008/00000043/The-Psychology-of-Members.html</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 19 May 2008 21:47:36 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000205#00000205 <p>In the member database, the admin can see all members with bounced email.&nbsp; It is STRONGLY SUGGESTED that this list be looked at&nbsp; every so often and members with bad email addresses either be contacted for updated email addresses, or in the case of free members, just deleted as members.&nbsp; Now this is easier than ever with a once step process.</p> Mon, 19 May 2008 17:10:29 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000204#00000204 <p>In an attempt to simplify the registration processes even more, we have modified the registration so that the member's nickname is suggested to them when creating an account.&nbsp; This nickname is based on the firstname and lastname of the member.&nbsp; For example, the nickname suggested to me would be "BoBennett".</p> <p>The member CAN change their nickname in the registration process -- but if leaves the default one, the default nickname will be used.</p> Fri, 16 May 2008 17:10:45 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000203#00000203 <p>You can now add ecomerce product in your calendar entries.</p> Tue, 13 May 2008 16:38:52 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000202#00000202 <p>The "message of the day" section was one of the first developed parts of iGrOOps.&nbsp; Admittedly, it never worked as well as it should have.&nbsp; Since this was first developed, we have added new feature that have made much of the message of the day section useless, redundant, and confusing.&nbsp; So we started from scratch.</p> <p>The old "message of the day" section that is found in the home page editor is now called "main content".&nbsp; There is no more "main image" to upload, no subject, or saving multiple messages (that part never worked well anyway).&nbsp; It is very simple and functional:</p> <p>There is a "main content" area and a "main content for members only" area where you can create your own custom HTML using the editor.&nbsp; Since the editors have the image upload/insert tool, there is no more need for a basic image uploader where we decide where to place your image -- you have full control over your images (as you have had since we added this image insert tool).</p> <p>There is no more "subject" -- this are was initially thought to be a daily message, but as iGrOOps developed, it is now used for homepage content.&nbsp; Any titles you can simply include in your HTML -- there is no more title and border surrounding this center content.*</p> <p>There is no more pull down menu to allow you to save different messages.&nbsp; This is the part that did not work and would save the wrong messages.&nbsp; Very few people ever used it so it was low on the "to update" list.</p> <p>Best of all, there is now the "members only" section.&nbsp; If you have anything entered in this area, that content will show IN PLACE OF the content in the main content area but ONLY TO MEMBERS who are logged on.&nbsp; This allows you to customize your content for members and non-members.</p> <p>* Your page will not be converted to the new format UNTIL you make your first edit in your homepage editor.&nbsp; When you do, very little, if anything, will change on your homepage, but it will be converted to the new format which will make future editing and updates simpler and more accurate.</p> Sat, 03 May 2008 17:59:14 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000201#00000201 <p>iGrOOps blogs are now integrated with an optional "share this" link.&nbsp; This link uses the service of <a href="http://www.sharethis.com/">http://www.sharethis.com/</a>&nbsp;.&nbsp; This is a great way to increase the exposure of your public and private blogs.</p> <p>The option is set in your "user preferences" for the blog file.&nbsp; You must get a free account with sharethis to implement this on your blog(s), but users do not need an account to use the sharing feature.</p> Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:24:13 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000200#00000200 <p>In the admin area you can now exclude URLs / partial URLs from your search results.</p> Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:21:11 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000199#00000199 <p>iGrOOps is now using the latest version of the&nbsp;tinyMCE text editor.&nbsp; This new version has solved many of the former quirks, and is reported to be more compatible with a wider number of browsers/versions.</p> Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:55:26 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000198#00000198 <p>Another major improvement to iGrOOps has been released!&nbsp; the site search!&nbsp; For an example, see <a href="http://ids.igroops.com/">http://ids.igroops.com</a>, left column.</p><p>To implement this on your site, see <a href="/members/ids/docs/adminman/sitesearch">http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/docs/adminman/sitesearch</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:05:03 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000197#00000197 <p>We have streamlined the lost password process even more to help members who forget their information.&nbsp; For security, I will not go into details besides to say that it is more automated now and should result in much less human intervention. Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:20:48 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000196#00000196 <p>In the communication system, you can now post video within subgroops -- not just private messages.</p> Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:56:02 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000195#00000195 <p>Two changes: 1) you can now launch custom links in a new window 2) links hidden by the admin, that are usually needed by admin only such as igroops support, invite members, see group members, and a couple others, will move to the bottom links (admin links) when hidden from members.&nbsp; This means admin only will see them.</p> Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:52:56 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000194#00000194 <p>We completed the hide / custom link section in the home page editor to enable the hiding of ALL links (besides home page) and enabled the creation of up to 8 custom links.&nbsp; This change will allow users to use their iGrOOp as a non-membership site as well. Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:50:37 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000193#00000193 <p>We have created a series of videos (about 20 in all) to help YOUR members with navigating though your membership site.&nbsp; You can select none to all 20+ videos to include in your site.&nbsp; This is done in the Administrator Settings &gt;&gt; Basic Setting.&nbsp; You will want to select the videos that apply to your site.&nbsp; For example, if you are not using the Video Chat, do not include that video tutorial.</p><p>The video tutorials will show up in YOUR video/MP3 gallery, as well as directly linked to the area/application that they provide the help for.&nbsp; For example, if you choose the &quot;logging in&quot; video, the link to this video will appear on your login screen (members do not have to be logged in to see these tutorials).</p><p>Some notes:</p><ul><li>members cannot comment on the videos</li><li>the videos show the &quot;igroops&quot; logo and use example sites from igroops.&nbsp; If you are trying to hide igroops from your members, you will not want to use these videos.</li><li>videos are usually 5-10 minutes long</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:55:42 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000192#00000192 <p>You can now choose to hide your page peel ad from guests, limited members, and/or full access members.&nbsp; This is done in the homepage editor under Pro Options &gt; Page Peel. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:39:52 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000191#00000191 <p>In the affiliate admin options, you can now hide the &quot;check your affiliate commissions&quot; link at the top of every page within the site.</p> Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:19:53 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000190#00000190 <p>We have completed the switch from the &quot;/igroops&quot; to the more generic &quot;/members&quot; in the membership site URLs.&nbsp; This was in response to the many customers looking to hide iGrOOps from their members.</p><p>The old URLs will continue to work, but it is suggested that you updated any hard links to the URLs that use the &quot;/igroops&quot; folder in the URL.&nbsp; For example:</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids</a> is now</p><p><a href="/members/ids">http://www.igroops.com/members/ids</a></p><p>and if you have your own domain, there will be no &quot;igroops&quot; at all in the URL.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:09:59 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000189#00000189 <p>The slideshow mode now displays captions (not on homepage, just in the photo gallery app). Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:58:21 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000188#00000188 <p>An option has been put into place for the admins of groups to be able to search newsletter subscribers -- just like they search members.&nbsp; Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:07:23 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000187#00000187 <p>We have implemented a public comment system for the blog / podcast / article application.&nbsp; Here is how it works:</p><ul><li>in the admin settings for the blog application, select the option to allow blogs to accept public comments.&nbsp; This will allow the blog owners to select this option in their own blogs under global settings</li><li>now, for each blog you want to allow public comments for, edit a post or create a new post to see the global settings section, where you will find the checkbox to allow non member (guest) posts.&nbsp; Check this box and save.</li><li>Non members will now be able to comment, with the understanding that a) they are only allowed text comments - no HTML formatting nor photo uploads and b) guests need to use the visual verification before posting to minimize spam</li></ul><p>This kind of posting should address our major concerns, but no doubt spammers will abuse these open posting abilities.&nbsp; Each blog owner is responsible for monitoring his or her own blogs and can turn off the public commenting if the amount of maintenance exceeds the benefits of the public comments.</p><p><strong>Remember, public comments if OFF by default.&nbsp; To activate, you need to first turn on the feature globally as admin, then the blog owners need to activate in EACH of their blogs.</strong></p> Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:36:24 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000186#00000186 <p>We have updated the video recording tool used for blogs, postcards, and private messages.&nbsp; This new widget is the latest version of the old one, and more stable -- especially on Mac platforms.&nbsp; Other than that, not much difference. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:14:57 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000185#00000185 <p>The member unsubscribe form now has a field for &quot;reason&quot;.&nbsp; This reason will be sent via the email unsubscribe notice to the admin(s).&nbsp; This information will be vital in creating a better group that will ultimately improve member retention. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:11:06 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000184#00000184 <p>In the admin settings for the blog app, you can now set the option to send all admin notices about new posts using a &quot;teaser&quot; (first paragraph) of the post, instead of the standard &quot;The admin has posted...&quot; message. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:39:27 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000183#00000183 <p>This is one of those apps that can be used for just about anything.&nbsp; Now you can rename the app to a more suitable name in the admin options for the app. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:18:03 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000182#00000182 <p>We added the member database and newsletter backup feature quite some time ago.&nbsp; We have added more backup options now -- backing up all text associated with all applications.</p><p>In the administrator settings, you will find the backup section.&nbsp; There, simply click on the links to download the backups.</p><p>The application backup text data is actually a real time export of all the text in the SQL files used in your membership site.&nbsp; They are separated by tables, in comma separated value format -- ideal for pulling into Excel, or exporting to another system.&nbsp; This is all zipped up in a single zip file on download.</p><p>We are not offering backups of images, videos, or audio files at this time.&nbsp; The amount of data storage and transfer that would require would require us to raise our prices significantly.</p> Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:15:24 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000181#00000181 <p>In the file sharing app: If you create a folder off of your main folder called &quot;public&quot;, any files you place in here can be downloaded by non-members or members not logged on.&nbsp; You must use the direct download feature for this. Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:01:38 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000180#00000180 <p>I added the option for admins to add a &quot;members currently online&quot; listing to their left menu.&nbsp; This will list all members that have accessed the site logged in within the last 10 minutes.</p><p>Note: only members logged in will be able to see this listing.</p> Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:33:24 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000179#00000179 <p>You can now have up to 3 custom links on the top menu.&nbsp; This is all that will fit with the needed links that are there.&nbsp; Keep in mind that if you choose to show all links AND add 3 custom links, you will have a problem with the look of your menu. Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:36:20 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000178#00000178 <p>Holy Upgrades!&nbsp; It is time to take membership sites to the next level through audio / video private messaging!&nbsp; This feature is now activated on your account(s). Your members can disable it for themselves, and you, as the admin, can disable it globally (not sure why you would want to do that though).&nbsp; For complete details, see</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/videos/VIEW/00000043/Using-Audio--Video-Private-Messages.html">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/videos/VIEW/00000043/Using-Audio--Video-Private-Messages.html</a><br /><br />Have fun!</p> Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:45:05 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000177#00000177 <p>Small update... added a text field for people using the forced continuity option to describe to members what they will be getting for the new members fee. Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:18:44 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000176#00000176 <p>As promised, we now have a global Google Map that is shown in the member search area, each time a search is made.&nbsp; This is a really cool feature -- one that members will enjoy. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:11:24 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000175#00000175 <p>The iGrOOps profile now supports Google Maps!&nbsp; If the member has any part of his/her address entered,&nbsp;a map&nbsp;will be created and&nbsp;show up in his/her profile.&nbsp; This can be disabled by the admin in the main search area.</p><p>We will soon have a &quot;global&quot; map that will plot all of the members in the group.&nbsp;</p> Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:07:33 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000174#00000174 <p>Although we have supported this for a while, we just completed the docs on this as well as implemented the conversion tracking portion.&nbsp; See</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/GoogleAnalytics">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/GoogleAnalytics</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:23:45 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000173#00000173 <p>You can now enter a custom Join Now link to be associated with all of your join links.&nbsp; This is done in the &quot;join ad&quot; section of your home page editor.&nbsp; The advantage: if you have a salesletter page or video that really &quot;sells&quot; your group, you will want to use that in place of taking them right into your membership form. Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:48:55 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000172#00000172 <p>There have been several improvements to the profile.</p><ol><li>the header now links to &quot;your profile&quot; -- not edit your profile.&nbsp; The edit link is inside your profile.</li><li>Inside member&#39;s profiles, are links to their content via icons</li><li>If you open your own profile, you will see a &quot;your portal&quot; section which has a list of &quot;to do&quot; actions based on your permissions within the group.</li><li>minor formatting changes</li></ol> Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:27:17 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000171#00000171 <p>There is now an option in the video/MP3 gallery to use smaller video sizes (320x240).&nbsp; if set, this is a global option for all videos.&nbsp; You cannot set the size of each video individually in the video gallery (but you can when including the files on home/admin webpages). Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:29:14 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000170#00000170 <p>You can now hide Google AdSense ads from full and/or limited members.&nbsp; This is set in your homepage editor.</p> Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:46:00 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000169#00000169 <p>Yet another application perfected for search engine friendliness!&nbsp; Each video has a custom URL, title, description, and keywords header.&nbsp; Sit back and watch your SEO rating soar! (my iGrOOp <a href="http://www.yeartosuccess.com/">http://www.yeartosuccess.com</a> has recently moved up to position #9 on Google for the keyword &quot;success&quot; -- a term that returns 349,000,000 pages!&nbsp; Anxious to see how much higher I can get after these changes.) Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:08:13 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000168#00000168 <p>iGrOOps now has a &quot;forced continuity&quot; option, which allows you to charge a smaller free for the first month.</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/Forced_Continuity">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/Forced_Continuity</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:10:07 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000167#00000167 <p>We have made the following improvements to the video/MP3 system:</p><ol><li>In the admin options for the video/MP3 app, admins can now limit the number of files members can create - by class.&nbsp;For example,&nbsp;full access members can upload 5 files and limited can only upload 2.</li><li>The admin can now create categories AND sub categories, which can be preloaded, rather than the creator of the file creating the category.</li><li>Website field has been added</li></ol> Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:39:33 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000166#00000166 <p>The communication system (forums / discussion boards) and the documentation created by the documentation creator are now SEO friendly.&nbsp; Each post/page is fine-tuned for superior SEO placement based on the content of the post and the title of the post/document.</p><p>You will notice for the comm system that the URLs are now different, but no need to worry -- all the old URLs will continue to work, and they are still used in some parts of the application.</p><p>It is also important to note that ALL private messages are still 100% private from search engines and spiders.&nbsp; These posts will NOT be included for listing on any directory.</p><p>Reminder, if you want your members only content spidered/listed by major search engines, you need to select this option in the home page editor under the PRO package options, otherwise, your members only content will never be seen by search engines.</p> seo friendly Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:07:48 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000165#00000165 <p>You can now hide the newsletter subscribe box, and all four custom HTML boxes on the left and right menus from any of the three groups: guests, limited members, full members.&nbsp; This is perfect for hiding the &quot;join now&quot; ads from members, and perhaps adding some good member only content there as well! Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:10:58 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000164#00000164 <p>Now when you click on a link to a message that is part of a thread, it will show the whole thread and jump to the reply you clicked on. Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:31:41 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000163#00000163 <p>There is a new line added to the message that are sent to the group via the communication system that let&#39;s the recipient know who they are replying to.&nbsp; In some cases, it is just the poster of the message.&nbsp; In other cases, like when the listserve is used, it is the entire list. Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:13:13 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000162#00000162 <p>One of the many coming member management updates has been completed.&nbsp; See</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/member_management">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/member_management</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:27:51 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000161#00000161 <p>There is a new option in the user preferences.. in the communication system.&nbsp; This option is for subgroop members.&nbsp; They can now get notified of posts each time a post to the subgroop is made (that they are in) regardless if the poster checks the notify option or not:</p><p>&quot;Notify me by e-mail each time a message is posted to a subgroop to which I belong, even if the poster chooses not to e-mail the message to the list&quot;</p> Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:27:33 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000160#00000160 <p>You can now name your conference calls when creating a new access code.&nbsp; This helps you identify the calls when the recording is e-mailed to you.</p> Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:55:01 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000159#00000159 <p>Members of subgroups can now see who is in the sub group.&nbsp; Within the description for the subgroup, there is now a link that will display all participant&#39;s profile summaries:</p><p><em><font size="2">This is a private subgroop that can only be viewed by the 4 members of this subgroop (</font></em><font color="#000000"><em>see members</em></font><em><font size="2">).</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">NOTE: if you ar hiding your &quot;search membership&quot; link from members, this will not show (to members)</font></em></p> Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:05:05 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000158#00000158 <p>You can now have any medial file in your video/MP3 gallery set to display only to guests, limited access members, full access members, and/or admins.&nbsp;&nbsp;This is done by editing each media file entry and selecting the group that you want to display this to under the admin&nbsp;options.&nbsp; Some notes:</p><p>1) this option is only available to admins</p><p>2) the application permissions take precedence over file permissions</p><p>3) you cannot give a lower group access&nbsp;without giving the higher group access as well.&nbsp; Example, if you give guests&nbsp;access to the file, limited and full members need access too</p><p>4) this per file access is only for viewing -- not uploading&nbsp;</p> Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:42:58 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000157#00000157 <p>The Photo Gallery application now allows you to display random photos from *ALL* of your albums.&nbsp; You no longer have to select just one album.&nbsp; This is choice can now be made in the home page editor under the left menu section.</p><p>In addition, the background color now matches your left menu.&nbsp; This really enhances the look of the slideshow when displayed on your left menu.</p> Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:53:52 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000156#00000156 <p>Since most admins get their own domain name, we have implemented a &quot;301 permanent redirect&quot; routine for all sites.&nbsp; This means, if someone (or a search engine spider/bot) tries to access your site by the igroops.com domain, it will switch to your custom domain and return a 301 message to the browser (for SEOs only).&nbsp; This should help with the SEO rankings, and for branding. Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:51:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000155#00000155 <p>We are working on replacing &quot;igroops&quot; in the url with &quot;members&quot;.&nbsp; This will be fairly long process -- we are estimating by March all scripts will use the &quot;members&quot; in place of the &quot;igroops&quot;.&nbsp; There will be no need to change any hard links or bookmarks -- both URLs will continue to workl. Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:10:39 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000154#00000154 <p>You now have the option of placing your newsletter subscribe box in left column.&nbsp; This is idea for those who are not using a right column layout. Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:12:59 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000153#00000153 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000153.gif" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>For those of you who are not happy with the default &quot;no photo uploaded&quot; image for your members who do not upload images, you can now upload your own default member avatar.&nbsp; This is done in the admin settings - basic information.&nbsp; For best results, keep your image 200x200px Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:46:52 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000152#00000152 <p>When you include video in your homepage or custom webpage, you can now use a TV image just by selecting an option in the video/mp3 gallery.&nbsp; To see an example, visit </p><p><a href="/igroops/publicspeaking">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/publicspeaking</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:49:43 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000151#00000151 <p>A very high demand feature has now been implemented -- custom ordering of left AND right side menu items!&nbsp; In your homepage editor, under the right and left menu areas, you will see a new &quot;order&quot; area, where you can easily select a menu item and move it where you want it.&nbsp; Very web 2.0 ish! Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:00:31 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000150#00000150 <p>We have now added table buttons in the homepage custom HTML areas, including center, left and right area.&nbsp; This will allow you more design control. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:58:05 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000149#00000149 <p>In the ecommerce module, there is now an option to print a shipping label when you open up an order in the admin area. You can also customize the shipping label and make it your own! Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:16:33 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000148#00000148 <p>In addition to several small fixes and improvements, we added a gift certificate&nbsp;feature for the e-commerce module.&nbsp; For a detailed walkthrough, see </p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/videos/VIEW+00000042">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/videos/VIEW+00000042</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 27 Jan 2008 10:29:31 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000147#00000147 <p>As we approach the one year mark with some of our earlier iGrOOps, it is time to focus on membership renewals -- at least for our members who have yearly memberships.&nbsp; The Smart Autoresponder module is now equipped to handle sending messages to members based on expiration date of membership -- perfect for renewal notices.</p> Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:22:57 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000146#00000146 <p>The &quot;about group admin&quot; link/icon is now on the header for members.&nbsp; This links directly to the admin&#39;s profile.&nbsp; The admin can hide this link (for pro groups) in the homepage editor if he or she chooses.</p> Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:06:51 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000145#00000145 <p>You can now associate ecommerce products with blogs. Whenever you edit or create a post within an existing blog, expand the global options and you will see all of your products (assuming you have products and the ecommerce module).&nbsp; You can select multiple products to display on the left menu when viewing your blog posts.&nbsp; Makes public blogs even more profitable! Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:46:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000144#00000144 <p>We have added a new option for blogs -- under global options (edit any of your posts in the blog and you will see it).&nbsp; It is &quot;show one post per page&quot; option.&nbsp; This is ideal if you have several long posts per month that take too long to load.</p> Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:26:56 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000143#00000143 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000143.gif" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>You spoke, we listened.&nbsp; Perhaps the #1 request we have had was for a more customized look option.&nbsp; This is now achievable through the <em>full header and footer image</em>.</p><p>Prior to this option, all iGrOOps sites used the default header layout -- the small left side logo with a choice of icon package across the top.&nbsp; With the new option, you can design a header image that is exactly 850px wide and a matching footer image of the same width (any height).&nbsp; Instead of the icons being used across the top, text based &quot;tabs&quot; are used.</p><p>See a live example here:</p><p><a href="http://y2s.igroops.com/">http://y2s.igroops.com</a></p><p>For full details and instructions to implement see </p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/design#HO">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/design#HO</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:52:05 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000142#00000142 <p>We have added an edit link at the bottom of all documents that use the document creator.&nbsp; This makes editing and updating documents easier than ever! Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:16:07 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000141#00000141 <p>We have taken away the free iGrOOp option for the time being.&nbsp; This may be a permanent change.&nbsp; All current free iGrOOp users may continue to use their free iGrOOp -- we have not, nor ever will, force free iGrOOp users to upgrade.&nbsp; We just are not allowing the creation of any new free iGrOOps. Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:06:22 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000140#00000140 <p>If you have your own domain, you can take advantage of this great new feature.&nbsp; This allows you to use easy to remember, short URLs for content, OR redirect old URLs to your igroops URLs if you moved your domain from another server, so your SEO rankings do not suffer!&nbsp; See <a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/basicinfo#mapping">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/basicinfo#mapping</a></p><p>for complete details.</p> url mapping Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:24:37 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000139#00000139 <p>For those who have trouble uploading large files via the Flash uploader, you can now set your user preferences to upload/download files via HTML instead.&nbsp; It is less convenient, but if you are uploading just one file at a time it doesn&#39;t matter.</p> Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:16:23 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000138#00000138 <p>If you create a folder called &quot;public&quot; in the file sharing application, and select this folder to be open to one-click downloads, users will be able to download files from this folder even if they are not members, and even if you have the permissions for this application set to members only. Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:10:14 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000137#00000137 <p>In the homepage editor, you can now add your own custom &quot;confirmed&quot; message.&nbsp; This way, once a newsletter subscriber confirms his or her email, they will see your custom message.&nbsp; This is an ideal place to link to downloads that you offer as &quot;free gifts&quot; for people who subscribe to your newsletter.</p> Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:07:30 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000136#00000136 <p>The e-commerce module has now been streamlined for electronic downloads.&nbsp; For more information, see <a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/ecommerce#download">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/ecommerce#download</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 23 Dec 2007 11:41:12 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000135#00000135 <p>Holy Shnikies!&nbsp; It is finally here.. the long awaited e-commerce module!&nbsp;&nbsp;We have incorporated about 95% of all the features you&#39;ve asked for, plus added more.&nbsp; We have created what we believe to be the ideal membership site e-commerce solution that is full integrated with iGrOOps, and works wonderfully with the affiliate and autoresponder modules.</p><p>For full details see</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/ecommerce">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/ecommerce</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:56:14 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000134#00000134 <p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">1) The affiliate commissions have been adjusted for those using the trial period.&nbsp; You will now see &quot;effective date&quot; which will be a future date of signup + trial period.&nbsp; This will solve the cancellation before trial is over problem.</font></p><p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">** note: this change may cause you to double pay a payment or two next month. &nbsp;Easy fix - just manually remove that member from the generated paypal file.</font></p><p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">2) PayPal cancellations initiated by customer now will cancel the customer&#39;s membership immediately (customer loses access and affiliate will not get commission).&nbsp; </font></p><p><font face="Courier New" size="2"><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif">3) PayPal failed payments will automatically suspend membership (not cancel).&nbsp; So if a trial member signs up and payment does not go through for whatever reason after the trial, their account is suspended.&nbsp; No access, no commissions paid.&nbsp; A subsequent successful payment from PayPal will make active the membership once again.</font><br /></font></p> Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:00:36 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000133#00000133 <p>We have document new membership tracking.&nbsp; For details, please see</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/Tracking_Membership_Registrations">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/Tracking_Membership_Registrations</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:58:40 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000132#00000132 <p>How about a public chat room on your homepage?&nbsp; See</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/meebochat">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/meebochat</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:18:53 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000131#00000131 <p>In the homepage editor, you can now choose to exclude any application&#39;s updates from the digest.&nbsp; You can do this temporarily as well, for example if you have just done a major update to the calendar.</p><p>Also, the digest can now be displayed in addition to and RSS feeds.&nbsp; It is no longer one or the other.</p> Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:10:43 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000130#00000130 <p><ol><li>left menu communication system now points to the category list</li><li>bug in group &quot;about you&quot; profile corrected</li><li>members no longer have to enter birth years if they want to add birthdates</li><li>admins can modify the reply to id of the post when editing a post -- allow them to put the chain under the proper original post if it is a orphan</li></ol><p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:13:07 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000129#00000129 <p>The custom iframe option is not available on both left and right menus.&nbsp; This is in the homepage settings area. Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:37:01 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000128#00000128 <p>There have been a few updates to the custom admin webpages:</p><ol><li>you can now choose to not display the left menu</li><li>you can now choose to not display the header</li><li>you can add the newsletter signup form by adding an anchor with the name &quot;NEWSLETTER&quot; (you must use the anchor icon in the HTML editor)</li><li>you can add any media file by adding an anchor with the name &quot;MEDIA&quot; (you must use the anchor icon in the HTML editor) and making the media file available to the custom webpages in the video/mp3 gallery when editing the media file.</li></ol><p>These changes are a result of many customers wanting to create &quot;sales letter&quot; type webpages.&nbsp; Enjoy!</p> sales lettermembership sitenewsletter Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:10:21 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000127#00000127 <p>There is now a feature in the autoresponder module that allows you to save a responder as a template, this way, when you create a new responder you do not have to start from scratch each time. Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:09:29 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000126#00000126 <p>iGrOOps can now use iFrames on the homepage and on other admin created webpages.&nbsp; This option allows admins to use any widgets they want, by installing the widget code on another webserver.&nbsp; iGrOOps does not allow widgets and custom javascript outside a few select code sources due to the major security risks associated with malicious code.&nbsp; But with iframes, all this code is run on an external server controlled by admins, and the iframe serves as a window into the outside webpage.</p><p>You can get adequate inexpensive webspace through your domain registrar for a few bucks a month.</p> Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:10:35 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000125#00000125 <p>The SmartAutoresponder module now has a feature that allows you to insert a message into a series and send to all who would have otherwise missed it.&nbsp; For example, if you have messages going out to members daily, and you go away for a week and do not have time to create messages, these members may be on day &quot;14&quot; of their membership, when you only have up to day 7 created.&nbsp; Now, when you use this feature, you can create &quot;day 8&quot; message and send immediately to all members PAST day 7, but not members on day 6 or before.&nbsp; This ensures that all members get their messages.&nbsp; It is a great tool for slackers like me.</p> Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:51:50 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000124#00000124 <p>This includes: a) custom filenames in URL b) title and meta tags per entry c) teaser for non-members when they try to access a members only review Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:47:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000123#00000123 <p>In the pro options section of the homepage editor, you can upload your own custom favicon!&nbsp; This is that little icon that appears by the URL and in bookmarks when you visit a webpage.&nbsp; </p> Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:39:10 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000122#00000122 <p>The admin can now choose in the admin settings for the blog, to allow members to create RSS feeds from their blog.&nbsp; Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:25:29 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000121#00000121 <p>FAQ App now has 1) custom titles, description (uses first paragraph of answer) 2) descriptive filename (URL)&nbsp;built from question. Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:21:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000120#00000120 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000120.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>What about SEO??? Big question that has been asked many times by customers.&nbsp; iGrOOps has some basic SEO built in, but not too much.&nbsp; We have just implemented some updates that should skyrocket groups that have good content to the top of the rankings!&nbsp; For now, we have updated the article/blog/podcast application with the following changes:</p><ul><li>now each blog post has its own title, description, and keywords tags -- each post no longer users the main group tags</li><li>each group has its own filename -- a unique URL that uses the subject of the blogpost as the filename.&nbsp; NOTE: old URLs will still work -- no need to change any links.&nbsp; This is for human readability and SEO.</li><li>Posts that are members only will show a &quot;teaser&quot; when accessed from a non member account.&nbsp; This helps encourage people to join</li></ul><p>In addition, we have created a system whereby all the major webcrawlers/spiders (ie Google, MSN, YAHOO, ask.com, etc) can now spider members only content!&nbsp; This is HUGE for rankings.&nbsp; <strong>To activate this, (pro version only) you must check this option in your homepage editor, under pro options.</strong>&nbsp; The reason we did not activate this by default is that we have many corporate intranet customers as well as closed groups.</p><p>Another change is your group&#39;s &quot;short description&quot; tag.&nbsp; We updated this to be just &quot;description&quot; and allow up to 250 characters.&nbsp; This will allow you a more descriptive tag for the search engines.</p><p>We plan on making all of our applications more &quot;search engine friendly&quot; in the coming days, as we did with the blog.</p> seo igroops Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:39:04 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000119#00000119 <p>You can now rename the &quot;FAQ&quot; application to anything you choose.&nbsp; I have found with many groups that FAQs really are not necessary, but an application to organize some other kind of information is.&nbsp; For example, in the membershipsitebuilding.com site, we really do not need a FAQ.&nbsp; But, we did need a place to list membershipsite building strategies.&nbsp; So in the FAQ config area, I renamed the application to &quot;Ways To Get More Members&quot;. Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:17:41 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000118#00000118 <p>Some updates to the admin webpages:</p><p>1) you can now give custom webpages &quot;friendly&quot; names... so the URLs do not have numbers or &quot;+&quot; signs in it</p><p>2) edit link shown to admin directly on webpage</p><p>3) some minor bug fixes</p> Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:16:06 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000117#00000117 <p>Corrected a couple of bugs in the FAQ: 1) comments now post to correct FAQ 2) comments look right in edit mode 3) you can delete multiple comments at once. Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:29:27 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000116#00000116 <p>The FAQ, Blog and Video/MP3 now have the option to turn comments off.&nbsp; This is done in the admin area for those apps. Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:55:55 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000115#00000115 <p>The video and filemanger uploaders have been updated.&nbsp; They have some nice features, but nothing major.</p><p>The photogallery uploader is customized so that will take a little longer.</p> Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:10:24 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000114#00000114 <p>iGrOOps will now work with dark backgrounds!&nbsp; If you upload a dark background image, be sure to check off the &quot;dark background&quot; option.&nbsp; This will make text white and light gray where needed. Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:08:50 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000113#00000113 <p>You can now watch the number of logins from different IPs in your member&#39;s accounts.&nbsp; You can set thresholds -- for example, notify you if a member&#39;s account is accessed from 3 or more different IP addresses in a 24 hour period.&nbsp; Or, automatically suspend the account.&nbsp; This is set in your admin settings, basic settings.&nbsp; For full details, see</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/basicinfo">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/basicinfo</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Fri, 09 Nov 2007 12:26:50 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000112#00000112 <p>There are actually two kinds of trial membership: FREE trial memberships and RISK FREE trial memberships.&nbsp; In the admin area, I allowed it so the admin can choose which to offer.&nbsp; The difference? FREE will take a yearly membership and add one year FROM THE LAST DAY of the trial period.&nbsp; RISK FREE will INCLUDE the trial period in the year membership. Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:02:45 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000111#00000111 <p>You can now have an audio or video file embedded on your homepage!&nbsp; For complete details, see </p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/avonhomepage">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/avonhomepage</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:03:53 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000110#00000110 <p>The Trial membership section has been completely redone.&nbsp; For details, see</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/meminfo">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/meminfo</a></p><p>You can also listen to our PodCast linked to the top of that page.</p> Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:03:09 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000109#00000109 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000109.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>How many times have you signed up for a newsletter, or membership site, and began receiving regular, quality information? Did you ever think, &quot;How can someone keep coming up with this stuff on a regular basis?&quot; The chances are, there was not someone creating and sending out the messages on a daily basis. The messages were probably created a while ago, and just sent to you on a schedule based on your membership date or the day of the year. These are what we call, &quot;<em><strong>Smart Autoresponders</strong></em>&quot;.</p><p>This is now an option for pro users.&nbsp; For full details, please see <a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/autoresponders">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/autoresponders</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> smart autorespondersautoresponders Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:13:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000108#00000108 <p>Changed to allow for two levels. Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:15:23 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000107#00000107 <p>I have received much feedback that the doc creator was annoying with the iframe and the multiple scroll bars, so I did away with them.&nbsp; Now it is a single page.&nbsp; Works better! document creator Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:40:08 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000106#00000106 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000106.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>We have now added an affiliate program module for Pro users!&nbsp; This allows any pro group to run their own affiliate program and compensate members for getting other members to sign up.&nbsp; For complete details, see <a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/affiliateprogram">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/affiliateprogram</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> affiliate program module Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:45:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000105#00000105 <p>To do this, edit an edisting post in your blog or create a new one, then expand the global settings link.&nbsp; You will see the option to open the blog to the public.&nbsp; Only the administrator has the rights to choose this option. Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:24:08 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000104#00000104 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000104.gif" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>Administrators now have the option of creating RSS feeds for their blogs!&nbsp; An RSS feed can be very useful in attracting more members and getting your message across to a wider audience.&nbsp; With iGrOOps, syndicating your blog feed, and even creating a PodCast, couldn&#39;t be easier!</p><p><strong>How to create an RSS feed:</strong> Simply edit any existing post in your blog that you want to create and RSS feed for, or create a new blog post.&nbsp; You will then see the global options link.&nbsp; Click that link to expand the options.&nbsp; Select your RSS preference... do you want the RSS file to show just teasers (first paragraph -- no photos or media) or do you want to create a full RSS file with complete articles, photos, and media?&nbsp; Edit or Save.</p><p>Your feed will immediately be created and linked to your blog.</p><p><img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/hp/admin/SP3220071016113743.gif" border="0" alt="SP3220071016113743.gif" title="SP3220071016113743.gif" width="255" height="63" /></p><p>If you feature this blog on your homepage (homepage settings) it will also be linked there for search engines to pick up.</p><p>For maximum exposure, it is suggested that you use <a href="http://www.feedburner.com">FeedBurner</a>.</p><p>For complete details, check the administration manual.</p> Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:02:27 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000103#00000103 <p>Like the blog posts, you can now feature video and MP3 files on your home page as &quot;teasers&quot;.&nbsp; To accommodate this, we have added an option for uploading a photo or image with each multimedia file. Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:10:58 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000102#00000102 <p>Admins can now export their member database into a tab delimited file, for easy import into any spreadsheet program. Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:13:40 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000101#00000101 <p>The member database now has a section for advanced searching options.&nbsp; Very flexible and powerful. Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:12:11 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000100#00000100 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000100.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>One of the most requested features by our customers is the ability to store custom fields (custom member information) in a database. For example, if you run a group where you want members to search for certain types of doctors, this can now be done.</p><p>Using the familiar &quot;additional member information&quot; section in their administrator settings area, you can define as many custom fields as you want. But now, these custom fields can fit under 3 types of information:</p><ol><li>private - this is the same behavior as before -- information asked to applicants, seen by admin only</li><li>public - information available in member&#39;s profiles viewable to all members</li><li>adminonly - sort of like the &quot;for office use only&quot; information - handy for admin notes on members</li></ol><p>Full documentation on this upgrade can be found here: <a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/appinfo" target="doc">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/appinfo</a></p><p>Enjoy!</p> Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:10:02 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000099#00000099 <p>Admins can now manually adjust the membership expiration date of members.&nbsp; This is done in the &quot;search members&quot; area, when you view the details of the users.&nbsp; This comes in handy for extending trial memberships, or reducing a yearly membership given away with a promo code, to a month or a few months.</p> Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:19:26 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000098#00000098 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000098.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>How would you like complete &amp; detailed stat reporting in your iGrOOp?&nbsp; If you are using Google Adwords and the Pro version of iGrOOps, you can have it (for no extra cost!)</p><p>From Google&#39;s website:</p><p>Google Analytics shows you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance their visitor experience. Improve your website return on investment, increase conversions, and make more money on the web.</p><p>With over 80 reports, your free Google Analytics account will track visitors through your site, and will keep track of the performance of your marketing campaigns - whether they&#39;re AdWords campaigns, email campaigns, or any other advertising program. With this information, you&#39;ll know which keywords are really working, which ad text is the most effective, and where your visitors are dropping off during the conversion process. Don&#39;t be fooled by the fact that this functionality is available to you for free - Google Analytics is a full-featured, powerful analytics package.</p><p>AdWords advertisers can find all of these benefits from within their AdWords account - Google Analytics has been fully integrated with AdWords. All of your reports and settings are available from the <strong>Analytics</strong> tab.</p><p>To get started with Google Analytics, simply visit <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics"><font color="#0000cc">www.google.com/analytics</font></a> or click the <strong>Analytics</strong> tab in your AdWords account. You&#39;ll be guided through a simple sign-up process, which will require the addition of a code snippet. Once that&#39;s done, you&#39;ll start gathering data immediately, on track for improved ROI!</p><p>(end)</p><p>To activate this, paste the code generated by Google Analytics into the area in your homepage editor -- in the &quot;Pro Options&quot; section.&nbsp; Allow about 24 hours for stats to start showing up.</p> Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:11:36 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000097#00000097 <p>We are working on the concept of navigation, and making it more clear and obvious to users where they are at any given time.&nbsp; So you will now see that the icons in the main menu will have a border around them when the user is on the page represented by the icon.</p> Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:04:59 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000096#00000096 <p>There is now an option in the admin config area of the comm system, to select the forum category you use as your newsletter list.&nbsp; If selected, all posts in this category will NOT show up in your digest, or on your home page if displaying recent forum posts.</p><p>Remember, if you do NOT want your members to see your newsletter posts, simply delete the posts right after sending to your e-mail list.</p> Sun, 30 Sep 2007 14:08:27 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000095#00000095 <p><a href="http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/igroops/msb"><font color="#810081">http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/igroops/msb</font></a></p><p>What I did was make it so that any *main* images associated with blog (not the ones included in HTML) will be displayed at 50% of the resized version.&nbsp; I hesitated with this change because a larger image with a small into can screw up the following display of the blog post, but, if that happens it is easy for the admin to either shrink the image, make the first paragraph longer, or just not use an image for that post.</p> Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:28:27 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000094#00000094 <p>In the HP admin area, you can now specify a footer to be attached to all your newsletter mailings. Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:44:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000093#00000093 <p>We have updated our flash video player.&nbsp; You will notice a few visual changes, but for the most part it is all back-end improvements.&nbsp; The biggest is the way it now handles full screen plays. Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:39:44 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000092#00000092 <p>When a member has an invalid email address due to bounced e-mail, they are notified by a message appearing in the header of ANY igroop they go into.&nbsp; This message is linked to their profile where they can correct their address. Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:38:31 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000091#00000091 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000091.gif" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>We have added an amazing newsletter feature which will allow our group administrators to capture more prospects and get more members!&nbsp; For complete details, see <a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/newsletter">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/newsletter</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:13:20 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000090#00000090 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000090.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>To keep your group clean and to ensure your members are getting their messages, we have implemented a bounced email log.&nbsp; Whenever a message is sent to a member from your igroop, our scripts monitor any failed attempts, then add this information in a database.&nbsp; You can then query your membership database for &quot;members with bounced emails&quot; and you will see something like shown in the attached image.</p><p>From there, it is up to you how you want to handle the bounced messages.&nbsp; If they are a free limited member you may want to just delete them.&nbsp; However, if they are a paid member you may want to call them and get an updated e-mail address.</p> Sun, 23 Sep 2007 17:32:10 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000089#00000089 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000089.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>How many times have you been to a membership site that wants you as a member, saw a &quot;teaser&quot; for an article that really intrigued you, clicked on it to &quot;read more&quot; then been asked to join because the article is for members only?&nbsp; Annoying isn&#39;t it? <strong>But effective -- extremely effective</strong>.</p><p>The iGrOOps blogs are similar to article creators.&nbsp; This is where it is suggested you post member only content.&nbsp; The blogs are fully serachable, and easily organized.&nbsp; It also allows for many contributors.&nbsp; Now, as an admin, you can edit any article and check off the &quot;featured article&quot; option for the blog post and it will appear in the <strong>center home page under a new &quot;featured articles&quot; section.</strong></p><p>This automated tool takes the first paragraph of the blog post (article) and displays that text, then adds a &quot;read more&quot; link to it.&nbsp; This will be displayed to ALL VIEWERS, not just members, so be sure it is ok for guests/visitors to read the first paragraphs of the posts you mark as &quot;featured&quot;.</p><p>It is also important to note that any images included in the text will be stripped out of the teaser only (will still be in the post).</p><p>This is a great way to show visitors how much valuable content is waiting for them in your online group!</p> Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:37:25 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000088#00000088 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000088.gif" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>You can now choose from 5 professional icon packages for your iGrOOp (pro users only).&nbsp; Each is different and sets a different tone for your iGrOOp.&nbsp; You can see these by going into your &quot;administrator settings&quot; and&nbsp;selecting &quot;color themes&quot;.&nbsp; Simply choose the icon package you want to use for your site.&nbsp; Enjoy!</p> Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:58:44 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000087#00000087 <p>now have the subject of the blog post as the subject of the notification. Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:55:17 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000086#00000086 <p>As a pro user, you can choose to hide the current membership number that appears in the upper right corner of the page.&nbsp; Go to your home page settings, and expand the pro options settings, and you will see this option. Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:29:14 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000085#00000085 <p>1) view post after approval bug fixed</p><p>2) reply to message with quotes fixed</p><p>3) the &quot;delete all selected&quot; option is back for admins.&nbsp; A bug caused this to &quot;disappear&quot; for a while.</p> Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:26:42 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000084#00000084 <p>You can now view photos one at a time without having to scroll (with most screens).&nbsp; A auto &quot;jump&quot; feature will jump to the top of the photo (or banner ad).</p><p>Also, albums are now sorted alphabetically.&nbsp; So if you want to sort them by the dates the photos were taken, simply add an &#39;album #1&#39; 2,3,4... etc to the album name.</p><p>Thanks to &quot;26Sanger&quot; for these suggestions of <a href="http://brr.igroops.com/">http://brr.igroops.com</a></p> Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:00:35 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000083#00000083 <p>Now in the blog listing, you will see the nicknames of the members who own the blogs. Fri, 21 Sep 2007 08:29:31 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000082#00000082 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000082.gif" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>For those of you using the Free iGrOOp, you may be asking yourself, &quot;How do I upgrade my iGrOOp to the Pro version where I can take advantage of so many great features and start earning money with my iGrOOp?&quot; (or not).&nbsp; Now an upgrade is just a click (ok a few clicks and some typing) away!</p><p>As the main group admin, you will see the upgrade link in your header.&nbsp; <strong>Keep in mind that only you, the main administrator of the group, see this link.&nbsp; </strong>It is not visible to others.&nbsp; Just click to start the upgrade process.</p> Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:43:06 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000081#00000081 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000081.gif" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>Now that members can have photos and profiles that are unique for each group, The administrator(s) of the group can now upload the photo on behalf of the member.&nbsp; In a non-technical group, most members would not try using the simple upload tool in their profile, but they will send an e-mail to the administrator with a photo attached.</p><p>Keep in mind that even if the admin uploads the photo, the member can always remove or overwrite it.&nbsp; This also does not overwrite their default profile photo (or lack thereof).</p> Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:47:15 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000080#00000080 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000080.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>iGrOOps is now Google AdSense enabled!&nbsp; Just another way for pro iGrOOp users to make money with their iGrOOp.&nbsp;</p><p>If you have the pro version of iGrOOps and your own Google AdSense account, you can start generating revenue from your iGrOOp instantly using AdSense.&nbsp; AdSense is now <strong>built into the home page editor</strong> -- very simple to use and implement within your iGrOOp.</p> Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:56:10 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000079#00000079 <p>If you are a member of more than one group, you can have a custom photo and bio for each group.&nbsp; Simply edit your profile using the edit icon in the header menu from within your group, and that photo/bio will be custom for the group.&nbsp; To edit your default profile photo or bio, use the edit member info link from the igroops homepage.</p> Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:55:09 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000078#00000078 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000078.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>Pro iGrOOp admins can now customize their iGrOOp with their own domain!&nbsp; Unlike domain forwarding, using your own domain for your iGrOOp allows your domain to &quot;stick&quot; in all the URLs -- just like web hosting with a custom domain.&nbsp; For complete details, see</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/yourowndomain">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/yourowndomain</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:32:23 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000077#00000077 <p>Adjustments were made so group admins using the pro version of iGrOOps can create a header image of any length up to 500px (versus the old 135px).&nbsp; This makes for a more attractive and balanced look to your iGrOOp.&nbsp; To see an example, visit:</p><p><a href="http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/">http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:29:56 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000076#00000076 <p>Each app just gets cooler than the next!&nbsp; In using my own iGrOOps for the past 8 months or so, I have found that there are still many, many, &quot;old school&quot; people out there that for one reason or another do not (or cannot) participate in either the audio or video chats.&nbsp; So we have added good old-fashioned teleconferencing!</p><p><strong>Summary:</strong> This is an off line application that requires only a telephone for the participants (the admin does need to use the iGrOOps web interface to generate access codes and get recordings).&nbsp; There&nbsp;are no fees involved besides the participant&#39;s long distance call.&nbsp; Up to 150 callers per call and up to 6 hours in length!</p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Don&#39;t forget!&nbsp; Like all applications you must activate this application in your administrator settings.</font></strong></p><p><font color="#000000">For complete details, see</font></p><p>Admin Guide: <a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/teleconf">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/teleconf</a></p><p>Users Guide: <a href="/igroops/ids/docs/users/teleconferencing">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/users/teleconferencing</a></p><p>Enjoy!</p><p>&nbsp;</p> Fri, 31 Aug 2007 02:12:50 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000075#00000075 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000075.jpg" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>Prior to today, if&nbsp;a non-member clicked on an member only area/link in your iGrOOp, they would get a very plain looking &quot;access denied&quot; screen.&nbsp; Now, the access denied screen carries your iGrOOp&#39;s color theme and keeps the user in your iGrOOp, plus, you can create your own &quot;join today&quot; graphic that will automatically be linked to your signup page.&nbsp; This is a GREAT way to convert browsers into members. You upload this ad in your homepage editor -- about 1/2 way down you will see where you can upload it.</p><p>Once again, check the Y2S iGrOOp for how I am using this feature.&nbsp; </p><ol><li>visit <a href="http://y2s.igroops.com/">http://y2s.igroops.com</a></li><li>click on one of the member only links -- like the blogs</li></ol><p>You will see the ad image I created.</p> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:43:25 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000074#00000074 <p>In an attempt to allow iGrOOp admins more flexibility, we have included the option to allow admins to upload a background image to their iGrOOp.&nbsp; I was hesitant to allow this feature because so often backgrounds make the site look &quot;cheesy&quot; or make the text hard to read.&nbsp; But a good background can enhance the site as well, so I will leave it up to the admins.</p><p>To use a background, click the home page editor icon in your iGrOOp.&nbsp; Scroll down a bit and you will see the option.&nbsp; For an example site using a background, see</p><p><a href="http://y2s.igroops.com/">http://y2s.igroops.com</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:20:39 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000073#00000073 <p>Introducing iGrOOps 15th application!&nbsp; The documentation creator!</p><p>The online documentation creator is a tool used to create on-line documentation much like the help files used by desktop applications.&nbsp; This tool makes creating documentation easy while automatically creating expanding menus and searchable documents.</p><p>For full details and to&nbsp;see the application in action, see:</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/doccreator">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/doccreator</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:45:39 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000072#00000072 <p>We brought back the audio chat <strong>in addition to</strong> the video chat.&nbsp; This allows our iGrOOp administrators to choose the chat that is most ideal for their purposes and audience.&nbsp; Here is a brief rundown of benefits/limits to each:</p><p>VIDEO CHAT:</p><ul><li>video!</li><li>unlimited users</li><li>superior sound quality</li><li>runs using Flash plugins, which is universal and rarely will require updates from users</li><li>uses MUCH bandwidth and requires a highspeed clear connection</li></ul><p>AUDIO CHAT:</p><ul><li>private rooms available</li><li>each room limited&nbsp;to 50 users</li><li>uses little bandwidth - less trouble for dialup users and wireless users</li><li>uses Java plugin - less universal and could require member to take some extra steps to install plugin</li></ul><p>To activate and use audio chat, select this in your administrator&#39;s settings - under applications.</p> Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:41:58 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000071#00000071 <p align="left">Thanks to our Prez, Ryan, we will be offering two chat sessions per week.&nbsp; The first of which is TONIGHT (Tues)&nbsp;at 9:00 pm Eastern and Tomorrow (Wed) at 12:00 noon Eastern.&nbsp; These will be weekly events.&nbsp; For details, click the logo below:</p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/webchat"><img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/hp/admin/chatlogo.jpg" border="0" alt="chatlogo.jpg" title="chatlogo.jpg" width="200" height="200" /></a></p> Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:18:35 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000070#00000070 <p>Starting next week, we wanted to implement a weekly video conference using the chat in this ids group for administrators and admin team members of different groups within iGrOOps.&nbsp; These would need to be during the day (initially).&nbsp; Topics can include</p><ul><li>technical support</li><li>suggestions</li><li>advice on promotion/marketing</li><li>how to increase member activity</li><li>anything else...</li></ul><p>What times work best for people?&nbsp; Based on our customers locations, 3:00pm EDT (GMT -5, 12:00 Pacific) seems to work the best.&nbsp; Mid week - like Wednesday seems to be a good day for most.&nbsp; Will this time work for you?&nbsp; Would you participate?&nbsp; What other times/days do you suggest?</p><p>Please check the calendar on the home page of this iGrOOp at <a href="http://ids.igroops.com/">http://ids.igroops.com</a> .&nbsp; By Monday we will have some initial conference times/days posted.&nbsp; Thanks!</p> Thu, 31 May 2007 21:30:48 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000069#00000069 <p>Small change, but really spices up the AV Postcards.&nbsp;Have a look at this sample I did for one of my iGrOOps:</p><p><a href="/igroops/d31/postcard/G2DHJGJLP9.html">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/d31/postcard/G2DHJGJLP9.html</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Thu, 24 May 2007 14:55:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000068#00000068 <p>Hello,</p><p>For weeks now we have been anticipating the integration of the latest chat technology&nbsp;- video chat.&nbsp; It is now here!&nbsp; This application is really cool!&nbsp; It replaces the audio chat that was java based and has many advantages, mainly</p><ul><li>Video chat can do just text, audio, and/or video</li><li>Video chat is a Flash-based application, meaning the chances are it will work fine on member&#39;s web browsers</li><li>An extra level of security built in that allows admins to hold private conferences and invite certain members by giving them a &quot;chat code&quot;</li><li>Much better sound quality</li><li>Currently, no limit on users in at&nbsp;one time*</li></ul><p>This is one of those really &quot;fun&quot; applications, so enjoy!</p><p>* Eventually we will need to set reasonable limits based on group membership and usage.&nbsp; Most likely, this will be limited to the number of paid members within a group.</p> Wed, 16 May 2007 21:30:04 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000067#00000067 <p>We have decided to give more money to the admins of the iGrOOps.&nbsp;As of May 1, 2007, the membership fees will be split as follows:</p><p>Any amount over the first $10 per year is split 75/25.&nbsp; 75% going to the administrator (or the split amongst the admin team as specified by the admin) of the iGrOOp.&nbsp; For example, if you charge $30/yr per membership for your iGrOOp, iGrOOps keeps $15 and you keep $15 (the first $10 to iGrOOps, then the $20 split 75/25 - $5 to iGrOOps and $15 to the admin)</p><p>&nbsp;</p> Sun, 13 May 2007 16:03:31 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000066#00000066 <p>&nbsp;</p><p>You can now add custom HTML, including images, to your iGrOOps homepage left and right menus.&nbsp; In the homepage editor, you will see four small input boxes where you can add information in upper left, upper right, lower left, or lower right.&nbsp; Should be straight forward.&nbsp; This is public info that is available for all to view - guests through admins.</p><p>Some possible uses:</p><ul><li>add a small logo in upper left corner</li><li>important announcements</li><li>news teasers with &quot;more&quot; linked to a full article</li><li>sell product</li><li>and more</li></ul><p><img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/d31/appdata/hp/admin/SP3220070512153017.jpg" border="0" alt="SP3220070512153017.jpg" title="SP3220070512153017.jpg" width="329" height="329" /></p> Sat, 12 May 2007 20:33:54 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000065#00000065 <p>A new &quot;digest&quot;feature has been implemented on the home page.&nbsp; This uses the right hand column to provide a detailed listing of recent activity to members, visitors and guests.&nbsp; </p><p>To implement: edit your iGrOOps home page and select the digest option.&nbsp; Select the default time period you want to display activity from 30 days to 1 minute.&nbsp; You select the time frame that will display a reasonable number of posts/comments/listings.&nbsp; new iGrOOps will want to display a longer time frame, where busy/active ones will display a shorter time frame.</p><p>Options: the members have the option to display their own time frame choice.&nbsp; For example, if you have a member that visits everyday, they may choose to select 1 day - so they only see all the new content for the last 24 hours.&nbsp; Personal settings take precedence over default settings set by the admin.</p><p>This was designed to allow members to see new activity at a glance without having to click&nbsp;on multiple links.</p> Fri, 11 May 2007 20:53:28 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000064#00000064 <p>There have been several enhancements to the AV presentation tool including:</p><ul><li>new left navigation bar</li><li>more descriptive editing menus</li><li>categories for slides</li><li>the ability to add flash elements and video to presentations</li><li>and some minor enhancements</li></ul><p>To see an AV presentation using these new features, and to learn more about iGrOOps, visit </p><p><a href="/igroops/ids/av/MZ47CX77HY/001.html">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/av/MZ47CX77HY/001.html</a></p><p>which is also linked to the iGrOOps home page.</p><p>Note: the flash elements generated and used inside this presentation was made with desktop commercial software and is NOT part of iGrOOps.</p> Tue, 01 May 2007 20:41:39 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000063#00000063 <p>If the member has created a member webpage within your iGrOOp, their profile will now have a webpage icon.&nbsp; If they have a blog within your iGrOOp their profile will now have a blog icon.</p><p>The icons will appear only if a webpage or&nbsp;a blog is created for the user.&nbsp; They will appear in a) member postings in the communication system, b) blog profile, and c) member profile.</p><p>The purpose is to provide an easy way for other members to learn more about the member by reading their blog and custom webpage.</p> Sun, 29 Apr 2007 11:44:16 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000062#00000062 <p>We&nbsp;have added the option for members to include images in their posts when using the web-based forum to post their messages (communication system).&nbsp; This uses the member&#39;s local image library (an iGrOOps feature).&nbsp; This now makes the forums ideal for &quot;classifieds&quot; and other uses where photos/images are important. Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:17:59 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000061#00000061 <p>The text and audio commentary is complete for this topic.&nbsp; It is linked to the homepage of the support and development iGrOOp, or visit directly </p><p><a href="/igroops/ids+webpages+5">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids+webpages+5</a></p><p>Enjoy!</p> Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:00:51 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000060#00000060 <p>We have just completed another application -- custom member webpages!&nbsp; Now, if you as the administrator choose, you can allow members to have their own custom webpage within your iGrOOp.&nbsp; This adds even more value to your iGrOOp and allows your members to be creative with their own personal page.&nbsp; This page can be open to the world, to attract more people to your iGrOOp through the marketing efforts of your members.&nbsp; It is a real win-win situation!</p><p>Like all new applications, you will need to activate this application first in your administrator settings.</p><p>Have fun with this!</p><p>&nbsp;</p> Fri, 20 Apr 2007 21:36:37 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000059#00000059 <p>Your iGrOOp now has your custom title, description, and a NEW keywords field in the header.&nbsp; This will help your pages get picked up by search engines and have more visibility.</p><p>The title and description are automatically inserted, but since the keywords field is new, you will need to go into your administrator settings and under &quot;Basic Configurations&quot; enter keywords that describe the content of your iGrOOp.</p> Thu, 19 Apr 2007 20:54:57 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000058#00000058 <p>Administrators can now choose to allow members to comment on custom webpages.&nbsp; Depending on the content of your custom webpages, this can be very useful and stimulate activity within your iGrOOp.</p><p>If you choose to use this feature, you will have to activate it for each of your existing custom webpages.&nbsp; This feature allows you the option of using the member comments only on select webpages -- not being forced to do an &quot;all or nothing&quot;.</p><p>You will also want to click the &quot;+&quot; icon for the new global options when editing/creating a custom webpage and check the notify of comments option and set your time zone.&nbsp; This only has to be done once for all pages.</p> Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:03:20 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000057#00000057 <p>We have begun the painful, but necessary documentation process on all areas of iGrOOps.&nbsp; Our goal is to provide this information in many different formats including</p><ul><li>web page</li><li>pdf document</li><li>audio commentary</li><li>video</li><li>AV presentation</li><li>FAQ</li></ul><p>We have completed our first document, &quot;How To Stimulate Activity Within Your iGrOOp&quot; which is linked to the main support iGrOOp and can be found at <a href="/igroops/ids+webpages+3">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids+webpages+3</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p> Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:50:57 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000056#00000056 <p>What is web 2.0 without RSS feeds?&nbsp; iGrOOps now allows administrators to use custom RSS feeds on their homepage.&nbsp; All you need is the URL of the RSS feed and you are good to go!&nbsp; This is set in the homepage editor section of your igroops:</p><p class="quote"><font size="2">List below the full URLs of any RSS feeds you wish to include on your homepage. FORMAT: One URL per line. If you wish to limit the feed to a defined number of items, enter a space then the number after the URL. iGrOOps suggests using </font><a href="http://beta.news.search.yahoo.com/news" target="_blank"><font color="#810081">Yahoo! News</font></a><font size="2"> searches to create custom RSS feeds.</font></p><p>You can have multiple RSS feeds, but you are limited to space, since it uses a new right column on the page.</p><p>This feed is also integrated with the communication system where members can discuss articles.</p> Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:18:07 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000055#00000055 <p>Now reviewers can use &quot;half stars&quot; in their ratings, for a more accurate rating system -- basically it is now 1-10 vs 1-5. Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:34:24 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000054#00000054 <p>So we all agree the video / MP3 gallery is cool, but our own content may be limited.&nbsp; Fortunately, videos are shared all over the Internet.&nbsp; Many popular video sharing websites allow you to embed custom code in your website to play the video without having to visit their website.&nbsp; Now, iGrOOps allows for this kind of &quot;embedding&quot;.&nbsp; That is, you can add external videos to your iGrOOps gallery.&nbsp; There is a new &quot;external code&quot; field where you add the code provided by the video website.&nbsp; To see an example, visit</p><font size="2"><p><a href="/igroops/publicspeaking/videos/00000013+KEY+Vm17cfN5SAuuw"><u><font size="2" color="#0000ff">http://www.igroops.com/igroops/publicspeaking/videos/00000013+KEY+Vm17cfN5SAuuw</font></u></a></p></font> Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:04:23 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000053#00000053 <p>Several updates have been made to the blog application.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>The blog now allows for multiple comments.&nbsp; members can ask questions of the blogger and the blogger can respond within the blog comments, or members can discuss the issue back and fourth.</li><li>The administrator can now edit the comments -- this is ideal for cleaning if the comments are not formatted correctly.</li><li>comments are ordered correctly - ordered by oldest comment at the top</li><li>comment dates will not change when edited or updated by admin or member</li><li>global settings are hidden by default when making a new blog post or editing.&nbsp; Click the &quot;+&quot; icon to show</li><li>more formatting options for bloggers like <font face="comic sans ms,sand">font</font>, <font size="4">font size</font>, and justification.</li><li>blog posts now allow for multiple images, using the local image library!</li></ul><p>These same improvements will carry over to other applications like the FAQs, Reviews, and Video/MP3. </p> Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:11:09 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000052#00000052 <img src="http://www.igroops.com/l1/ids/appdata/blog/00000052.gif" border=0 vspace=5 hspace=5 align=left> <p>Two great features added: 1) the ability for members to set &#39;global reminders&#39; for events on a particular calendar.&nbsp; Rather than setting a reminder for each event as it is entered, members can just select to be sent a reminder for all events X (minutes/hours/days) before the event.&nbsp;</p><p>2) The ability for members to hide events in a category that are of no interest to them.&nbsp; If the color coding of events are being used, members can hide any of the categories.&nbsp; *These hidden categories will also be ignored in global reminders.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:01:12 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000051#00000051 <p>The admins have a custom webpage feature.&nbsp; We have made some adjustments so that the local image library now is part of HTML area (the WYSIWYG tool) -- see instructions on page for uploading and using custom images in your webpages.</p><p>Second, admins can now assign access privileges to these pages.&nbsp; That is, they can deny world, visitors, trial members, and/or members and any combination of the groups.&nbsp; This is done on a per page basis.</p> Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:54:49 GMT http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/blog/VIEW+00000001+00000050#00000050 <p>Administrators can now add local images to their application introductions.&nbsp; In the admin config area for each app, where you create the introduction, you will now see a camera icon.&nbsp; This will open up&nbsp;the local file library where you can select and choose an image.&nbsp; Files used here are only re-sized if over 498px, so be sure to size the images using local software before uploading for best results. Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:16:31 GMT