The SOAG Calendar

Calendar

The previous sitting schedule was a very labor-intensive affair that was difficult to keep up to date and often required repeated conferences to straighten out. The new calendar can be accessed directly by all the members of the gallery so that each member can choose a convenient, available time to sit at the gallery. The entry appears immediately on the website, so others know the time is taken and there is no need for further negotiations.

Most members seem to have found their way to mastery of the new calendar, but for those times when difficulties arise, let's compile on this page the solutions to the most common problems.

The general instructions: When you go to the calendar page you will see the current week displayed. The week is set to begin with Monday, so that the days when the gallery is open are all on the right side, Thursday through Sunday. Blocks for which someone has signed up are yellow.

If you intend to sign up for a time or alter any previous setting, you should log in. Each member has a user name and password. You can look yours up in the email that was sent on September 23, 2004. (You do know that you can find all past SOAG email messages on the web at the address that is at the bottom of every SOAG message you get?)

When you log in, you will be looking at "your" calendar (your name will be at the top of the page); you should switch right away to the "Public access" calendar because that is what shows everyone's times. To do this, click on "Another User's Calendar" at the bottom of the page. In the next window, make sure it shows "Public Access" in the drop-down box, and click "Go." You will then see the current week's calendar with "Public Access" at the top where your name was previously.

Now you can see what times are spoken for. You can click forward week to week; or you can select at the bottom of the page a particular week to jump to. When you find a time at which you want to sit, click on the "+" (small "plus" sign) in the upper right hand corner of the time-slot. This opens the "Add Entry" window.

Add Entry

• For the "Brief Description," enter your name. This is what will be shown on the main calendar page for the time slot.
• For "Full Description," leave blank. Unless you want to make a special note for some reason, this entry is unneeded.
• The "Date" and "Start" time should be already set if you clicked in the time-slot that you wanted. It should be set for a "Timed event."
• You will need to set the "End Time."
• "Send Reminder" -- if you would like to get an email message before this sitting time, select "Yes" and specify how long before the scheduled time you want the reminder.
• "Participants" -- this is very important: you must make sure that "Public Access" is selected as a participant so that your entry will show up in the public view of the calendar. AND you must make sure that you are selected as a participant so that your time will show up in your view of the calendar and so that you will get your email reminder. (To select two items, hold the Ctrl key while you click on each.)
• "Repeat Type" -- if you want to sign up for the same times each week or each month, you can use this function.

Save -- when you've entered all the info for your sitting, save it. This will take you to your calendar. You should switch to the Public Access view to make sure your entry is showing there.

Change Entry

To change an entry, begin by clicking on that entry in the calendar. You will then go to a window that shows the full details of that entry as it currently is. Under the entry is a menu of options -- you can edit (i.e., change) or delete the entry. If you choose to edit the entry, you will see a screen just like the one for a new entry, but with all the current info in place. Change what you like and, when you're done, click on "Save." That's it.

More questions

If you run into problems, please contact me (Andrejs) or Diana. We will try to explain things so that you can accomplish this task. It is important to the functioning of the gallery that it be open and staffed at all the prescribed times. So, please make sure you are able to take part in maintaining an accurate schedule of sittings. We'll post on this page the questions and solutions that have potential wider interest.