SOAR

SOAR Customers,

We are pleased to announce that our next release will be on September 3rd, 2009 and will include all new Site Themes and a number of new theme related features.

As you may know, this release has taken us much longer than we anticipated. It took quite a bit of time to thoroughly test a number of new technologies to be used in the release and to integrate those technologies that proved reliable. The current Site Themes were developed by a 3rd party consultant and unfortunately have limited both us in development and you (our customers) in personalizing your website. For this reason the new themes (HTML and CSS) have be rewritten from scratch to overcome these limitations and to add in new technologies/features.

Overall we are very pleased with the new capabilities this release will provide you. Here is a teaser of the new release:

• Themes with much more appealing look and feel
• Rich Text Editor support for Announcements
• Support for full-width custom header image
• Easy upload and selection of graphics within content, including Announcements
• Background colors and image options for ALL Site Themes
• 60+ settings for color, font, display, and images per Site Theme
• A lot of fixes/additions for the Rich Text Editor
• New technology (SIFR) for use of fonts beyond the standard 6 web safe fonts.

We are notifying you ahead of time of the date of this release because you will need to select a new Site Theme for your website. Given the complete rewrite of Site Themes and the introduction of new technologies, it is impossible for us to migrate your current Site Theme settings. We understand that this is the start of the scouting year for many and want to make sure you take advantage of these new Themes and Features as soon as possible.

NOTE: This will NOT affect the content of your website – your Welcome Message, Announcements, Events, Files, Links, Photo Albums, Custom Pages, Menu Items, Roster, etc… will NOT be affected. It will only affect the “look and feel” of your site.

On 9/3/2009 we will install the new release and your website will be set to the new default Site Theme for your service (Pack or Troop). After Noon EST on that day you will be able to browse the new Site Themes, select one of them, and start making new customizations for your site.

Along with the full release announcement on 9/3 we will also publish a “How to use graphics on your SOAR website” guide that will assist you in learning how to effectively include graphics in your website.

Do I need to do anything?

1. Look for the release announcement on September 3rd, 2009 that will contain full details for the release.
2. Login to your SOAR website after Noon EST on September 3rd, 2009 and select a new theme and select theme customizations.