Introduction

Our website has now been live for six months (as of April 2026). We’ve worked hard to create a visual, usable and engaging site that appeals both to u3a members and to the public. Consistency and clarity have been key to achieving this.

Editing Privileges

As a Category Leader or Group Coordinator, you may be given privileges to help keep the site up to date, fresh and accurate.

• Group Coordinators will normally have Author privileges, allowing them to update their own Group page.
• Category Leaders will have Editor privileges and may edit any Group within their category. Please avoid editing Groups outside your own category.

At a minimum, we ask that you:

• Keep the Group Information block up to date and aligned with Beacon.
• Keep the Group Information text aligned with Beacon.

You may choose to do more — but before you do, please remember that the site works well because we have maintained a consistent structure and a unified visual theme across all pages. We’d like to preserve that consistency.

Guidelines for Editing

Images and GDPR

Any images uploaded to the media library must be GDPR‑compliant and copyright‑safe.

• If your photo includes identifiable members, you must have written consent confirming it may be used on our public website.
• If you use stock images, they must be royalty‑free and not infringe copyright.

Two reliable sources of free images are:

• Wikimedia Commons
• Pixabay (Other sources are available.)

When uploading an image, please complete the Description field with:

• A short description of the image
• The image source
• Confirmation of GDPR permission, or a note that the image is royalty‑free

Image Styling

When inserting an image into a page, set the border radius to 12px in the right‑hand settings panel. This gives smooth rounded corners and keeps the site visually consistent.

If you use a border (not usually needed for plain photos), the width should be 3px.

Colours

Colours must come from the u3a Brand Guidelines. The SiteWorks team has restricted the colour palette so only approved colours are available.

Columns

Long, full‑width paragraphs are hard to read on a website. We now use three columns for most content. If you are editing a page that still uses two, please add a third and distribute the content to improve readability.

Media & Text Block

Please do not use the “Media and Text” block. It does not allow us to apply rounded corners to images, which breaks the visual consistency of the site.

Document Overview

The Document Overview tool is extremely helpful when editing. It provides a visual map of your page and makes it easy to move sections around by clicking and dragging.

Contacts

The name of each Group Coordinator appears in the Group Details card at the bottom of the Groups page. If the Coordinator changes, you’ll need to update the contact information.

Their name may already appear in the drop‑down list (for example, if they coordinate another group). If it doesn’t, you’ll need to add their details to the Contacts list via the left‑hand menu on the Dashboard.

You’ll need their:

• First name (Given name)
• Surname (Family name)
• Email address
• Membership number (Memb No — used to distinguish members with identical names)

These details can be obtained from Beacon. Once the new contact has been added, their name will appear in the drop‑down list on the Groups page.