HotDoodle Support

Users can be gathered into groups with permissions assigned to all members of that group. A group can subscribe to a bulletin board that is unavailable to the rest of the public and that group can receive emails when that bulletin board is updated.

As the website owner, you can control the abilities the users have by assigning permissions. To simplify the task of assigning permissions individually to each user, HotDoodle allows you to organize individual users into groups and assign an entire group the same permission. Individual users can have unique permissions as well as permissions assigned by the group they are in. Some groups are controlled by the website administrators, some groups allow individuals to join at any time, and others have join requests approved or denied by the website administrator or group admin.

Examples of permissions:

Ability to view a page that is not available to the public
Ability to make a purchase on the website
Ability to download a resource that is only available to members
Ability to view or to post to a discussion board
Ability to upload pictures
Ability to add events to a calendar
Ability to edit a block, a page, or even the entire website
Ability to own their own profile and member pages on your website

Create Group Accounts

Steps: How to Create a Group Account

1. From the HotDoodle Toolbar, click on the "Administration" tab.

2. Click on the "User & Group Accounts" button.

3. Click on the “Manage Groups” link.

4. Click the “New Group Account” link.

5. Type a Name and Description for the group.

6. Use the drop-down menu to determine who can email members of the group.

7. Use the checkboxes to set the properties of the group.

New users members by default? - Check this box if all new users will be included in the group. This is useful to create a general group that contains all of the websites users, allowing the website owner to email them all at once.

Users opt in/out upon registration? - Check this box to allow users to opt in or out of the group when they register for the website. The “sales pitch” text will appear when they register.

Users may join without asking? - Check this box if users will be able to join or leave the group from the “My Info” page.

Users may request to join? - Check this box if users will be able to request to join the group from the “My Info” page.

Must be confirmed by group admins? - Click this box if a group administrator will approve all requests to join a group.

Group may subscribe? - Check this box if the group as a whole will be able to subscribe to areas of your website.

8. If necessary, type a message to entice people to join the group.

9. If necessary, type a message title and body for the email sent to people joining the group.

10. Click on the "Save" button.

Edit Existing Groups

Steps: How to Edit an Existing Group

1. From the HotDoodle Toolbar, click on "Administration" tab.

2. Click on the "User & Group Accounts" button.

3. Click on the “Manage Groups” link.

4. Click "Edit" next to the group you would like to edit.

5. Make any changes to the group. See Group Property Explanations

6. Click on the "Save" button.