Christian-Web-Masters.com - passion.imagination.vision

Yes! Finally Clear, Well Written Documentation about Building a Professional Website with Drupal

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 20:52:24 +0000

Yes! Finally Clear Well Written about Building a Professional Website with Drupal

Following a link from http://drupal.org/planet I came across the excellent series by IBM developers about developing a profession website using open source technology. In fact, the series focuses on using Drupal as the core.

The professionalism in the process used to redesign the website and the detail with which these articles are written make this series a must read for anyone interested in community websites.

Some items to highlight include:

The whole introduction and details about the design process
How they analyzed and compared different open-source content management systems
Decision to use Drupal
All of Part 2: Design for an effective user experience
Structuring content for theming using XHTML
Styling content for theming using CSS
And finally, a well worded, well explained, detailed document describing Using taxonomies in Drupal

Church123, An Easy to Use Excellent Tool for Church Websites

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 20:25:29 +0000

Earlier this week CWM community member bunced recommended Church123 from within the CWM forum thread topic: EZ to build site, nice layout: which web host would you recommend for

What interested me was the statement by bunced that Church123 is:

"very powerful, and a professional company with a good customer service record and a nice product".

I have to say that after checking out Church123 for myself, I absolutely agree with bunced.

I signed up for a free 30 day trial account and here is what I saw:

Sign up was very easy and it really only took three steps
I received an automatic contact and then a personal contact from Church123 within a short period
A church website was easy to setup and the system provides very clear guidance

Very nice usability in that each step had clear directions, and hovering over items provided more explanation (for example instructions about editing content)
In three steps the church website was ready, including some helpful default pages ready for adding content
The Church123 website in general has helpful links and information for church websites. I often come across their site pages during Google searches for information
Included with a Church123 account, Church123 provides free, professional website templates for churches

In my communications with Gordon, from Church123, regarding my comments about how easy is is to use their system, here is part of what Gordon said:

Our system is not crammed with as many features as some CMS's. We've concentrated on getting the core functionality really, really good. Our strengths are certainly ease of use and support (we genuinely care). In truth if you stick lots of features in the CMS then churches will think they should use them and they litter their sites with all sorts of widgets that actually distract visitors from the reason they came to the site. I go to a church of about 100 people, our site is clean and information rich (it was used as an example by the World Web Evangelism Day). On average we get two new visitors through the doors on a Sunday directly because of our website.

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Dean's Great Post on Software as a Service for Church Websites

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:39:51 +0000

I just came across this great post from back in April by Dean over at Heal Your Church Web Site about Software as a Service for Church Websites .

It is worth a read and your consideration if you are involved with any Christian Website for an organization. Here is a small snippet to entice you over to read the post:

...SaaS helps keep this highly mobile, suburbanly sprawled congregation together by facilitating both paid and lay staff in terms of communications, sharing materials and schedule management. In other words, the problems solved by FBCF’s use of the CCM go well past that of simple website content ‘manglement.’

Read the post

Exploring the Internet Mission Field

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:51:54 +0000

Most of the following statistics are taken directly from various resources found at the Pew Internet and American Life Project

How many people are on the Internet?

North America has approximately 223,392,807 internet users
This is approximately 68% of the population
A 106.7 % growth since 2000
About 97 million people use it each day
63% of the adults in the country
81% of the nation’s teenagers

Worldwide there are approximately 938,710,929 users
- Approx. 14.6 % of the population
- A 160.0 % growth since 2000

Online Population Stats: Growth Continues

Internet usage among all countries continue to increase
Significant growth has occurred in:
- Africa
- The Middle East
- Latin America

Matthew 9

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

What are people doing on the Internet?

On a typical day:

The primary purpose of this research about the role of the church and the internet

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:50:12 +0000

Our primary task is to:

Work to discover the role of the Church and the Internet

In order to do this, we will educate ourselves about the Internet:

Population
What people do
Religious activities
Survey the mission field
Review types of online church activities
Discuss the uniqueness of internet evangelism
Briefly examine example tools of the trade

We Begin by asking questions

What is the role of the church in the world?
What is the role of the church in art?
What is the role of the church in media?

Believers Are Salt and Light

Matthew 5:13-15

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

There are four components involved in being salt and light on the internet.

Visibility
Accessibility
Presence
Commitment to engage

The Role of the Church & the Internet

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:48:20 +0000

The following material is adapted as bullet points from research done between June and July in 2006. The research was conducted in preparation for a presentation given to pastors and clergy during a symposium in the July of the same year.

What's the Deal with Myspace ? Enthusiasts and Critics Alike, Please tell me

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:23:41 +0000

Hello CWM Community.

Okay, I have been reading various material about Myspace . I want to know what our community, and others think about it.

For those who are "enthusiasts" and use myspace, please tell me:

What people generally do while on the site.

Please note: I want to hear from both enthusiasts and critics. Friendly, thought provoking points and counter points are welcome and encouraged.

Please answer the Myspace Thread in the forums.

In Christ,
Sean Buscay

Accepting Online Donations with PayPal

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 22:43:58 +0000

PayPal Donations provides Christian Websites, Churches, and Non-profits with a simple low cost solution for accepting secure online donations. With PayPal Donations your ministry’s members and donors may easily donate from your website using their credit card or bank account on PayPal’s secure server. The advantages to using PayPal’s Online Donations for your Christian Website are similar to those discussed for NetworkforGood.org.

PayPal’s Basic Online Donations includes the following advantages for your Christian organization:

Receive secure online donations with little setup
Low starting costs – PayPal online donations uses the same fee schedule as other PayPal payments
Donor security and privacy are handled PayPal
Receive detailed records of all online donation transactions

When using PayPal Subscriptions, your members and donors may:

Setup regular automatic monthly donations through their credit card or bank account

One very nice feature of PayPal donations is that your Christian organization could setup donation links which may be included within emails to your members.
Unlike, NetworkforGood.org, PayPal does not require your Christian organization to be an exempt nonprofit registered with the United States IRS.
One only needs a PayPal account in order to get started receiving online donations and your Christian website can begin receiving online donations in less than five minutes.
PayPal provides the following seven step overview on their website:

Log in to your PayPal account
Click on the Merchant Services tab
Click on the Donations link
Specify the name, amount (optional; if you leave amount blank, your donor will be asked to choose a donation amount), and other details of the donation
Add more optional information such as a customized button graphic and the ability to include a note with the donation
Click Create Button Now and the Button Factory will generate customized HTML code
Paste the HTML code on your website to create your Donate button

From my experience, the “Donations” link in step three is sometimes hard to find. Donation buttons may be generated in the same place you find your PayPal button factory. Also look for the donations link in the copy on the “Merchant Services” page, once logged in.

What Makes Christian Web Masters .com any different from other Website Design and Development Sites and Forums?

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:15:34 +0000

In order to remain on target with the mission and vision of CWM, those of us on staff must continue to ask ourselves, “What Makes Christian-Web-Masters.com any different from other Website Design and Development Sites and Forums?”

Many of the articles and tutorials on CWM, and many of the discussions held on the Christian Web Master Forums, cover the same topics found on other popular webmaster sites. In fact, those sites like SitePoint.com and AListApart.com have a level of participation and meet “excellence” standards that CWM continues to strive towards.

In discussing new articles to be posted on Christian-web-masters.com, CWM staff member Luke (iLuke) recently explained to another staff member:

The purpose here isn't to compete with sites like SitePoint or pixel2life -- the major focus would be substantially different (even if the content is hugely overlapping). Coming from a Christian perspective, and with the ability to interact in a Christian environment will be what sets this apart. It is not an easy thing to present the basics of HTML from a Christian perspective (there simply isn't a great deal of content there), however, having the ability to discuss the basics of HTML within a Christian community because of a basic article that you read would offer real advantages to a new webmaster.

I also just came across this post from CWM member tjsingleton on his In Awe of Him Ministry site:

Where can you find caring people who enjoy helping others and love Christ? Christian-Web-Masters (CWM) hands down. There are people from all over the world willing to share with you web tips, encourage you to keep it up, and make sure your site doesn't look tacky. (You should have seen my previous design. Just kidding.) Javascript, PHP, Photoshop, SEO and more. It all can be found at CWM and even more.

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New Drupal 5.0 Beta : Installation and Configuration Test Drive

podcasts@christian-web-masters.com — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 20:39:48 +0000

I am becoming more and more of a fan of the content management system Drupal.

The developers and community at Drupal.org have recently released the beta version of the new 5.0 release. This new version of the Drupal CMS received many new features, including improved performance, a new administrative interface, and a new slick default template.

I decided to download the beta and give it a test drive. Here are some of the things I found during installation and setup.

New Web based Install, Makes it Easier for Everyone

After dropping the drupal files into the main directory for my test site, I created the mysql database and then pointed my browser to the new site.

Here is what comes up:

I choose my database type (mysql) from the radio box, entered the name of my Drupal database, along with the username and password to access the database. Then I hit “Save configuration”.

That was it. My new Drupal install was complete. Nice.

Drupal Website Setup

After completing my install in about 90 seconds, I followed the link to visit “your new site”. From my new Drupal home page I was guided by a five step list to start using my new Drupal site.

So I:

Created my first account

including:

Choosing my password
Setting my user time zone

At this point it would have been good to be taken back to that five point list. However, I had to go back to my home page to seed the five point list again.