TOPIC:

Curious about the FTH 2.0 Agenda Template design, I decided to "look under the hood" at the HTML code.

Much to my surprise, it takes only 2 pairs of <div> ... </div> tags in order to control the layout of the agenda page, i.e. Switching the top information section to the left sidebar.

Attached are 3 files to illustrate my point:

1. AgendaLayoutChange.pdf is a summary of the trivial code changes I made: the additional code is in red.
2. Agenda_Page_001.jpg is a screen shot of the first part of the agenda template.
3. Agenda_Page_002.jpg the second part of the agenda template.

This change allows a club to generate an agenda directly in the branding format identical to www.toastmasters.org/stationery. You save time by avoiding the use of Microsoft Word to "cut and paste".

It would be nice to see the FTH Agenda follow the suggested branding after what I am sure was a large and costly rebranding process. A further suggestion I would make is to add a top div to include the colour burst which runs from left to right. It has been a while since I worked directly with HTML however my memory is telling be that would mean just adding another div tag.

I think this probably squeeze the amount of horizontal space on pages likely resulting in a longer agenda--some clubs will not like that. Other clubs will appreciate conforming to the branding guidelines. My point is that you probably cannot please everyone regardless of what you do with the page formatting. Everyone has their own favorate formatting and layout.

The current website agenda layout is also an approved agenda. I know that it doesn't specifically say so on the "stationery" page on the TI website, but I have an email from TI marketing that says, in part:

... we do approve all of the materials listed on this webpage, www.toastmasters.org/Members/OfficerReso...ources/Software.aspx which would include the FreeToastHost Agenda.

I personally think that TI could make this clearer. That was my reason for emailing them in the first place.

Thank you Steve for your comments and I appreciate your concerns.

As a matter of fact, I spent the last 2 or 3 weeks sharing your concerns while I was studying the

HTML code for the agenda template.

If you examine the HTML code, there are 2 essential factors that dictate whether what I call the

"club information section" is at the top or on the side of the "agenda section".

The 2 essential factors are the "width", expressed in percentage, of each section.

In this example, I have the width of the "club information section" set at 22% and the width of

the "agenda section set to 76%.

(1) Whenever the sum of both widths is less than 100%, i.e. 98% in this case, the

sections will line-up vertically.

(2) Whenever the sum of both widths is 100% or more, the sections will line-up

horizonally. This is the default condition before I added the code.

As such, it becomes obvious that BOTH options can be offered at practically very little cost. Only

2 variables need to be set (widths for horizontal or vertical layout):

(a) Widths at (22%, 76%) to get the "club infromation section" as the sidebar.
(b) Widths set at (100%, 100%) to get "club information section" at the top.

Since both widths are expressed in percentages, they will vary proportionally depending on the

overall width expressed in pixels.

You see Steve, I am NOT advocating replacing the current page layout, rather an easy way to

implement BOTH options.

From the very beginning, I was always looking for an opportunity to enrich the variety of agenda

templates available. I hope that the FTH developer will look into my suggestion. For those clubs

that need to "cut and past" into a Word agenda template, I believe this will be a time-saving

opportunity.

With best regards,

Mupopa

I hope that it is clear that my suggestion for this format DOES NOT imply any dispute of the Agenda provided by FTH. I just wanted to save time for those clubs that have adopted another format.

As to the squeezing the horizontal space, I think there is plenty of space since by removing the top section, we free up more vertical space as well.

In one of the clubs I belong to, we often have 4 speakers and 4 evaluators in addition to many supporting roles. We use the format with the info section on the left side, yet there is enough room to specify all the details about each speech (title, manual project, duration).

Thanks.

-Mupopa

mupopat,

Thanks for the clarification. I think more flexibility is often a good thing, so long as it does not also lead to more confusion .

I have no problem with people wanting to use the two column format. But quite a few people seem to think that the FTH website agenda is not an approved option and I wanted to clarify the situation.

Jane,

I agree that there seems to be some unwarranted concern about the FTH agenda format, which is unfortunate.
The bottom line, in my view, is that different people and different clubs will prefer different formats, but this should not distract or take away from the basic, useful functionality which the existing FTH2 agenda format already provides.

If FTH2 provides an effective, approved agenda format and enough flexibility (e.g., via data exports to Excel or copy/paste) to enable users to produce other formats to their liking with a reasonable/minimal amount of effort, then that is probably sufficient, in my view. However, I am definitely for more flexibility and I am certainly not against adding more agenda formats so long as it would benefit a sufficient number of FTH2 users/clubs without increasing new user confusion. (Trying to make FTH2 be all things to all clubs may have diminishing returns and lead to new user confusion from "feature glut".)

This looks good and exactly what I want to do but how do I edit the HTML code to make the code changes described?

This is user contributed information in support of an improvement suggestion.

Since it is not an implemented feature at this time, there really is no official support or direction that we can provide for this approach other than to welcome the improvement suggestion and promote discussion on it.

I would recommend PMing user mupopat, as he may be able to assist you further.

In conclusion, though, I would caution you to carefully consider the implemention of any HTML that significantly changes the page layout that the FTH framework provides... proceed at your own risk.

There is a way to modify the print layout but it is far from pretty.

First, create a CSS print file and upload it somewhere accessible. Then open your agenda and use Firebug (or similar) to point to your uploaded CSS print file.

Of course this is good for that session/browser instance only. Told ya it wasn't pretty.

I've done this to edit the agenda layout but found the time and effort not worth the slight gains.

I think FTH made a good call on the current agenda layout. I recall several posts here where users prefer to keep the agenda to one-page. Narrowing the agenda content column width would more likely result in two-page agendas.

@Cory - You can modify the agenda header. Here is a simple edit I made for our Halloween event. That is me as Cap'n Bradbeard.

Be mindful email clients treat imgs differently so you need to be able to depreciate it gracefully.

Brad,

I think you should make Cap'n Bradbeard be your forum profile pic. lol
Arggghh, shiver me timbers, Cap'n Bradbeard!

I created a silly little TM promo (posted to Facebook, etc). Here is the photo and caption.

Arrr! Capt'n Bradbeard I am. Me learns to speak at me Toastmasters club. Me scurvy crew now hears me well and smartly falls in line lest the plank they go.

We need a LIKE button!

in forums it is called Karma click the + SIGN TO APPLAUD

Very creative. Simply outstanding. Thanks for sharing such an attention grabber!

Thanks for the comments peoples. Someone on another site asked permission to use the photo so I thought I would add the same okey-dokey info here.

This is me Brad Smith as Cap'n Bradbeard in the photo and I give everyone permission to use however desired. Use freely and no attribution necessary unless you want to. Optional attribution info: Talk of the Town Toastmasters and the club website is 2555.toastmastersclubs.org

Bump