Introduction #

SiteWorks allows emails to be sent by a site visitor to a member of a specific u3a (i.e. officers or group leaders) securely. This guide discusses the following:

• Validation and Verification of Email Addresses
• The Contact Form
• Sending emails from pages and posts

Verification and Validation of Email Addresses #

Verification #

When an email address is added to the u3a Contact page, limited verification is undertaken, namely that the email address is correctly formatted as Username@Domain.TLD, where:

• Username – the individual’s identifier
• Domain – the individual’s mail server (e.g. Gmail, Hotmail)
• TLD – Top-level domain (e.g. com, uk, edu)

If the imported structure does not conform to this template, an error is flagged.

Validation #

Validation is not provided. However, it is recommended that when a contact is added, a test email is sent, confirming that the recipient exists. Care must be taken to ensure that the email sent is not interpreted by the recipient’s email server as spam, to maintain the u3a’s email reputation.

Contact Form #

Overview #

In many cases, a visitor to a u3a website will need to contact either a committee member or group leader by email. To facilitate this, the standard SiteWorks distribution includes a facility that provides an email capability. It should be noted that:

• The distribution includes a Contact Us page, which must not be deleted, though it can be customised with specific graphics, etc.
• The contact form is only generated if called via the [u3a_contact name = “***” email = “****” slug = “****”] short code as discussed here. This shortcode cannot be used as a link with a button, image (a shortcode can be placed in a caption if required) or the navigation bar.
• To increase email security, the contact form is single-use as a measure to prevent spamming. Once an email has been sent, a second email cannot be sent to the same person using the open form. The form needs to be closed and reloaded.
• The contact form proforma generated by the shortcode cannot be edited. All fields except the phone number are mandatory. If a visitor tries to send an email without completing all the mandatory fields, an error message is displayed.
• When receiving an email from a Contact Form, the recipient is provided with not only the message but also the following information.
  • A: the standard email header.
  • B: contains the information entered by the sender, including the website and the page from which the contact form was selected (i.e. walking-group), the recipient’s name, reply address and phone number (if provided).
  • C: The message

Default Form Overview #

The SiteWorks distribution provides a u3a contact form for site visitors to contact any committee member or group leader listed on the u3a Contacts page. The Contact Us page includes the [u3a_contact_form] Shortcode, as shown in the edit mode view below:

When a member of the public selects an email link, for example, to contact the chair, the contact form will appear for completion and submission:

When the content provider is logged in as an Administrator, Editor or Author, the form has a check-box to Send me a copy:

The Send me a copy tick is not available on the public page, as a site visitor could use the form to send a malicious email to any email address.

Creating an Additional Contact Form. #

In certain cases, for example, a suggestion box is required; it is possible to add a further “contact form”. To create an additional contact form:

• Add a new page.
• Add the [u3a_contact_form] shortcode.
• While technically there are no design constraints to the new page, the content creator should be aware that on opening the [u3a_contact_form] shortcode, it will add additional boxes, hence a simple design is encouraged, for example, incorporating a cover block.
• While editing, saving and publishing, it should be noted that the new page will not show the complete view, as shown below:

• To use the newly created form, the slug needs to be inserted into the SiteWorks email call, as discussed here. Once saved, the content creator should note the page’s slug in the sidebar (A) or by using the  Quick Edit page (B). The use of the slug is discussed here.

Adding email provision to pages and posts #

In this section, it is assumed, unless otherwise stated, that the information for individual contacts, including a valid email address, has been entered using the u3a Contacts page, as documented here.

Emailing a group leader from a Group or Event page. #

• A Group page has two fields that can be used to set up contacts, Group Leader and Group Leader 2—the Primary Group email function is not currently available. Any available contract can be assigned to any field, as required by the individual u3a
• When entering Group information, the content creator selects from a drop-down list a Coordinator or, in the case of an event, an Organiser. These people MUST be in the contact list with a valid email address to appear in the drop-down. If the content needs to be deleted, click on the ‘x’ by the dropdown control.
• When a group or event page is viewed, the name given to the u3a Contacts page for the Coordinator will be shown as a link and can be emailed via the contact form by clicking on the name.

Using the Shortcode #

In addition, SiteWorks allows content creators to embed a command directly in the text to access the email contact form by using a Shortcode. The following points must be noted:

There are several ways to use the Shortcode depending on whether the recipient is in the u3a Contacts list and which contact form is to be used.. The SiteWorks default or the user-created contact form can be applied using the following Shortcode:

[u3a_contact name = “***” email = “****” slug = “****”], where email and slug are optional parameters.

The Shortcode is used as follows:

• [u3a_contact name = “A-Name”]: finds the contact name in the Contact list and generates a link to the default contact page.
• [u3a_contact name = “A-Name” email = “name@example.com” ]: Generates a link to the default contact page and sends the email to the given email address.
• [u3a_contact name = “A-Name” slug = “New-Contact-Page”]: finds the contact name in the Contact list and generates a link to the page with the slug “New-Contact-Page”.
• [u3a_contact name = “A-Name” email = “name@example.com” slug = “New-Contact-Page”]: Generates a link to the page with the slug “New-Contact-Page”, and sends the email to the given email address.

The page visitor will see the following link:” A-Name “, irrespective of the underlying short code.

It is recommended that all email addresses be stored in the u3a Contacts list, so they can be maintained from a single location. Hence, on the appointment of a new group leader or committee member, the only email address that needs to be changed is the u3a Contact entry.

Use of buttons and images to initiate the contact form. #

A link that can be attached to a WordPress button or image cannot be replaced by a Shortcode. If a u3a requires a button-like object to act as a call for action, it can be constructed as follows:

• To locate the “button” correctly on the page, it is recommended that it be placed within a column structure, with a width of 25%.
• In the required column, add a paragraph containing the required Shortcode plus additional text or add <br> in the HTML view. Ensure that the text is centred.
• Select the Paragraph and from the block toolbar select Group.
• Select the Group from the breadcrumbs, and apply the required text and background colour using Style.
• Adjust the Group padding dimensions as required.
• Set the Group radius to give a button effect.

Contact Form Log #

Sitework incorporates a facility to monitor the use of the contact form. To activate the logging function from the Dashboard, select u3a Contact Form Log, and then Enable Log.

When enabled, access to the information is via the following user interface:

When Show selected messages is selected, all the message details are shown in a table, which can be reviewed by the website administrator.

Spam and phishing emails are a scourge and account for over 90% of emails.  Mail services try to detect such emails automatically, and when they think they perceive a pattern, they will block all emails from the sending server. Therefore, any email that does not look like a genuine personal email stands a high chance of being put into a “junk” or similar folder, bounced back to the sender or just silently deleted.

A proportion of emails that may be sent during the testing and commissioning of a system can easily fall into the category of “not looking like a genuine personal email” and damage the “reputation” of the sending server.  In addition, the system emails generated by WordPress about password changes or resets can look like phishing emails, further damaging the reputation of the sending server. To prevent this:

• Avoid using the contact form mechanism to send messages with the word “test” in the title or very brief messages.  If you want to test out the contact form, please try and simulate a genuine enquiry using genuine names, email addresses and messages that contain several lines of genuine text.
• When creating a new user, as discussed here, remove the tick from the box to send the new user an email message about their account; otherwise, it may be classed as a phishing email.  Instead, send the new user their username and password using your u3a officer’s email account.
• Discourage your users from using the ‘lost password’ mechanism on the login form.  Instead, if they have lost their password, tell them to ask an administrator to issue a new password and send it to them via your u3a officer’s email account.
• If your users find emails are ending up in their “spam” or “junk” or similar folder, please ask them to move the emails to their inbox and add the sender address to their “safe senders” or similar white list.