History, notable alumni and memorials
The institution's memory, written down before it goes
Three public pages: a timeline, the alumni worth naming, and a register of those who have died. The third one is handled differently from everything else in the product, on purpose.
The timeline
Years that do not have to be years#
Each entry has a year, a heading and a paragraph. The year is stored as free text rather than a number, so "1960s-70s" and "circa 1948" are both allowed, and the entries sort into the order you give them. This is a small decision that saves an argument in every committee that has ever tried to date a school extension.
Notable alumni get a photograph, a profession, a biography and a position in the list. The committee roster is here too: name, role, batch year, photograph, order, and a published flag so next year's list can be prepared before the AGM.
In memoriam
Nothing is published without family consent#
A memorial entry carries a consent box that has to be ticked before the entry appears on the public page. Until then the record exists only in the admin panel. It is a gate written into the code, not a note in a manual, because the cost of getting this wrong falls on a family rather than on a committee.
Untick it and the entry comes down again at once. Delete it and it is gone. There is no approval queue in the way and nobody to ask.
What the software cannot do for you. It cannot tell you whether the family agreed. Somebody on your committee has to have that conversation, and the tick box is the record that they did. If your association has no settled practice for who makes that call, agree one before you switch this page on.
One thing to watch
Heritage also owns your free-form pages#
The heritage section of the admin panel holds more than its name suggests: the timeline, notable alumni, memorials, the committee roster, and the editor for standalone pages served at /p/ plus your privacy, about and heritage pages.
So switching the heritage module off removes the page editor as well, even though those pages carry on being served to visitors. If you want the timeline gone but the about page editable, leave the module on and unpublish the entries instead.
Questions about history and memorials#
Can a timeline year be vague?
Yes. The year on a timeline entry is free text, so "1960s-70s", "circa 1948" and "the second building" are all valid. Institutional history is rarely tidy enough for a date picker.
Who can publish a memorial entry?
Anyone with the heritage permission, but the entry stays private until a family-consent box is ticked on the record. It is not a reminder, it is a gate: without it the entry does not appear on the public page.
Can we take an entry down again?
Yes, immediately, by unticking consent or deleting the record. No approval flow, no waiting, no support ticket. Families sometimes change their minds and the software should not argue.
What else does the heritage section control?
More than its name suggests. It also holds the committee roster and the editor for your free-form pages, including the privacy and about pages. Switching the heritage module off removes that editor, even though the pages themselves keep serving. Read the note above before you switch it off.
See the three pages with content in them
The demo ships example entries in all three, each labelled as an example in its own text so nothing is mistaken for real history.