Our software team has just released one of our biggest updates for some time, and it’s live now on every Hubb site. Most of it works straight away. A few things, like Google Analytics and custom field chips, just need a moment to set up.
Here are the changes you’re most likely to notice, and a few smaller ones that should make life easier.
The short version
Person, family and organisation records in the web office have been redesigned. A record now opens as a wide panel from the right of the screen, with the tabs down the left and everything laid out in clear cards. The tabs are in a new order, based on how often churches use them, so Details, Family and Involvement come first.
The family switcher has gone. In its place is a Family tab, which shows when someone has other family members. If a person lives on their own, you’ll find their home address and phone number on the Details tab, and ‘Add another person to this family’ is in the Tasks menu.
You can also show important custom fields as chips at the top of a record. There’s more about chips further down.
If you use Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager, you no longer need to paste Google’s code into your template. Go to Site Configuration and enter your ID in the new Analytics panel. It accepts GA4 IDs (starting G-) and Tag Manager IDs (starting GTM-).
UK rules changed earlier this year, so analytics used only for visitor statistics can now run without a cookie banner, as long as visitors are told and can switch it off. If that’s how you use Google Analytics, tick ‘Used for statistics only’. Hubb then adds an Analytics section, with an off switch, to your Cookies and Privacy pages, and your footer link reads ‘Cookies & analytics’. If you leave it unticked, visitors see a consent banner with equal Accept and Reject buttons, and Google only loads after they accept.
If your template still has Google’s code pasted in, the panel will warn you, because your visits would be counted twice. Our support team is happy to help you move it over.
This replaces the old cookie notification bar, and the Cookies link in your footer now always shows.
Typing an address is now quicker. Start typing in Line 1, and after three characters you’ll see matching addresses from Google. Pick one and the rest of the address fills in for you. If you’d rather type it yourself, just carry on as before.
It works on member profiles, registration forms, check-in guests, booking delegates and shop checkout, and on person, family and organisation records in the web office. Lookups go through our server, so your visitors’ browsers never talk to Google directly.
Donors can now look after their own Gift Aid declaration in your church app. A new Declaration tab in the app’s Finance area shows them, in plain words, whether you claim Gift Aid on their giving and from when. It also shows the house and postcode sent to HMRC, with a link to update them.
From there, a donor can confirm their details, end their declaration or make a new one. Each change is recorded as made online, and your Gift Aid declarations list in the web office shows when a donor last confirmed their declaration on their My Gift Aid page.
The Declaration tab appears on UK sites with a charity number that have taken Gift Aid eligible payments.
Every password box in the web office and the app, including the login page, now has an eye button. Click it to see the password you’ve typed, and click again to hide it.
It’s a small change, but a stray space or a missed character is behind many ‘my password doesn’t work’ moments.
Open any heading below to see what has changed.
Person and organisation custom fields have two new options: ‘Show as chip in profile header’ and ‘Show as chip in lists’.
Header chips sit at the top of the record, like the DBS expiry date below. List chips show beside people on a group’s Members tab and a directory’s Roles tab, and beside organisations on a directory’s Organisations tab. Sensitive fields can’t be shown as chips.
A new Compact View button tightens up the grid on large rotas, and your browser remembers your choice.
Saving now only saves your own changes, so a sign-up or another admin’s edit made while you had the editor open is no longer undone. You can also mark a cell ‘Not needed on this date’.
In Finance > Bank Deposits > Online, the Tasks menu has a new option: ‘Export these deposits and transactions as a comma-separated (CSV) file’. It gives you one row for every card payment and refund in the deposits for your chosen dates, each with its deposit’s date, amount and status, so reconciling a bank statement in a spreadsheet is much easier.
Add the new YouTube Videos module to a page to show the latest videos and live streams from your YouTube channel or playlist. You can feature your newest video so it plays right there on the page.
You can also swap the Latest Media panel on your app’s home page for your channel’s five latest videos. You’ll find the setting under Config > App > Settings > Home Page Settings.
The Image Gallery module now has the same Tags settings as the Articles List, Calendar and Media List modules, so a gallery can show only the images with certain tags.
If anything here would help your church and you’re not sure where to find it, email us at support@hubb.church, and we’ll point you to it.
Adam