From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org Thu Dec 4 14:09:51 2008 From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter) Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 16:09:51 -0600 Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Volume 3, Issue 21 Message-ID: [image: netAdventist News & Notes e-newsletter] *Vol. 3, Issue 21, Dec. 3, 2008* In this Issue: - Creating Content Pages in Your v3.0 Site - The Power of Web Video?*net*Adventist User Creates Community Services Video - FAQ: Will our old *net*Adventist default URL automatically be forwarded to our new URL? [image: Tips for netAdventist v3.0 users] Tips for netAdventist v3.0 users Creating Content Pages in Your v3.0 Site *net*Adventist makes it easy to create new content pages for your Web site by providing you with *Quick Link* on the main screen of the *Dashboard*. Just click on *Add a Page* to get started. When you first set up your site, this is a link you will use often. For example, you may want to create a page about your staff that includes bios and pictures. Once you've created your pages, you can easily edit them by clicking on the *Website Pages* tab and then selecting *Content Pages* from the left-hand menu. You will then be able to effortlessly manage all your pages, from editing content to changing templates. When you click on Add a Page in the main screen of the Dashboard, it will ask you to give your new page a name. Then it will take you through four steps to create your new page: *1) Page Properties, 2) Page Layout, 3) Add Content, *and* 4) Preview*. Just click on *Next *to advance to the next step. At any point you can stop and save your work by clicking on the *Save as Draft* button. In step one, you will be asked some questions about your page, such as where you want to place the page in your navigation menu or whether you want to share the page with other sites. In step two, you will be asked to select a template for the layout of your page. There is already a default template that you can customize. Just remember that any changes made to this template will be made to all the pages using it. You may want to use different templates for different types of pages. Templates can be created under the *Settings* tab by selecting *Theme and Templates* from the left-hand menu. Each template can have its own layout and widgets. In step three, you will add your actual content (i.e. text, photos, etc...). Your content editor provides tools to create the HTML code for you. Place your cursor over the different buttons to see what each one does. For example, there is a button for adding a video to your page. You can also edit the actual HTML code, if you are comfortable doing that. If you aren't ready to add your content now, just select Next to go on. In step four, you can choose to publish your page live to your site or save it as a draft to edit later. You will then be taken to a new screen where you can view what it looks like. In the next newsletter, we will look at widgets, explaining how they function in v3.0 and how to add them to your site. [image: Ideas From Other netAdventist Users] Ideas from Other netAdventist Users The Power of Web Video?*net*Adventist User Creates a Community Services Video In today's world of YouTube, video has become a powerful tool for evangelism on the Web. It attracts people to your site and makes your church appear human. It gives a voice and a face to what you do. *net*Adventist user, Auburn Seventh-day Adventist Church, understands this power. They have created several videos for their Web site and posted them on YouTube as well. One in particular that has received a lot of notice is a video they created about their community services program. They not only included sound bites from their staff in the video, but from the people whose lives have been impacted by community services. It is a very touching video that shows how their church is reaching people for Christ. Click hereto view it. There are many great examples of mission-oriented videos on YouTube. Just type in "Adventist" to see some created by our own churches and ministries. Your church can tap into the power of Web video too. *net*Adventist v3.0 makes it easy to upload your videos and place them anywhere on your site. If you want to get started, visit Desktop-Video-Guide.comfor tips and help on creating your own Web videos. Another great resource is WebZoneVideo.com. Click herefor their article on creating web videos on a budget. You don't need a lot of money to create videos. Just about any digital camera has video capability, and there are lots of free editing programs available, such as Microsoft Movie Maker for Windows users and Apple iMovie for Mac users. If you are wondering about file format, the best format is Flash video (FLV). The quality is good, the file size small, and 98% of computer users can watch it with no problems. Do you have ideas to share? Email us . [image: Tips for Using the Web for Evangelism] Frequently Asked Questions When our v2.0 site is completely migrated over to v3.0, will our old *net*Adventist URL automatically forward to our new one? No, visitors won't automatically be forwarded to your new URL. However, visitors will see a splash page displaying your new Web site address and can click on it to be redirected. This applies to anyone who has been using a * net*Adventist default URL (i.e. churchname.netadventist.org). ------------------------------ *To submit a question or an article idea* for future newsletters, click hereto email Nicole Batten. We also encourage you to share your user experiences with us. We may use your story in an upcoming issue. Great ideas and innovative content are meant to be shared! We also encourage you to share links, content, or applications that you think would benefit other *net*Adventist users. *To submit a change of email address* for your own subscription or to unsubscribe, click here. This newsletter is published twice monthly, on the first and third Wednesday of the month, for *net*Adventist users. *Publisher:* Office of Global Technology & Software, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists *Director:* John Beckett *Editor:* Nicole M. Batten *This e-newsletter is a service of netAdventist **and the Office of Global Technology & Software.* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.netadventist.org/pipermail/newsletter/attachments/20081204/22a9248d/attachment.html From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org Thu Dec 18 17:47:48 2008 From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter) Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:47:48 -0600 Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Volume 3, Issue 23 Message-ID: [image: netAdventist News & Notes e-newsletter] *Vol. 3, Issue 23, Dec. 17, 2008* In this Issue: - Adding Widgets to Your v3.0 Site - Remember to Respect Copyright Laws - FAQ: Where do I add my Google Analytics code in my v3.0 site? [image: Tips for netAdventist v3.0 users] Tips for netAdventist v3.0 users Adding Widgets to Your v3.0 Site You can personalize your Web site pages with widgets in much the same way you personalize your Google home page. In *net*Adventist, widgets are added when you create templates. This means you can have different widgets on different pages by creating multiple templates. For example, you may want different widgets on your home page than you do on your event or staff pages. Now if you're new to Web 2.0, you may not be familiar with term "widget." Widgets are essentially anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web page. Widgets are also known as modules, snippets, or plug-ins (which is what they were called in v2.0 of *net*Adventist). Why use widgets? Because they allow you to easily add functionality to a Web site without writing HTML. They also add dynamic content to your pages. In * net*Adventist, there are widgets for your announcements, events, news, photo albums, etc. For example, if you want to add a *Login* box or display a *Who's Online* box, you'll need to add a widget for them. See below for a list of current widgets available in *net*Adventist. To add widgets in *net*Adventist, click on the *Settings* tab in your Dashboard. Then select *Themes and Templates* from the left-hand menu. Next scroll down the page to select the *Template* you wish to add your widget to and select *Edit Template* (you can also choose to create a new template here if you wish). To add the widgets to your selected template, advance to step three by clicking *Next*. You will notice an orange box, called a *Container*, within your template with the words "*Click here to add widgets*." A drop-box list of widgets (similar to the ones below) will appear. Simply check the widgets you wish to add, but be sure to scroll back to the top and click *Add Widgets* or it won't actually add them. Once you have added your widgets, click on them individually to customize their settings. This is a necessary step for most of the widgets as they won't display properly until you have customized their settings. For example, in the photo album widget you have to select which album you wish to display and whether you want it to display as a slideshow or stand alone picture. When you are finished customizing your widget settings, click *Done* (found at the bottom right of your screen) to return to your site Dashboard. *net*Adventist Widget List - Content Series Widget - Announcements Widget - Events Widget - News Widget - Static Content Widget - Login Widget - Bibleinfo Widget - Photo Album Widget - Polls Widget - Podcast Widget - Document Groups Widget - Live Media Widget - Feed Aggregator Widget - Grace Notes - Menu Widget - Adventist Channel Widget - Mailing List Widget - Who's Online Widget - Google Translate Widget - Sabbath Time In the next newsletter, we will look at how podcasting works on your site and the new features v3.0 offers for podcasting. [image: Shared Links, Content, and Applications] *Shared Links, Content and Applications * Remember to Respect Copyright Laws Just about everything on the Web is protected by copyright law, including images, music, page content, and multimedia. It's important to understand how copyrighting affects the content you place and use on your site. In the U.S., as in many other countries, you can assume that the content and images you find on the Web are protected by copyright unless a site specifically says visitors are free to copy the content. This is because an original work is protected by copyright even if the creator doesn't file any formal paperwork or include a copyright notice on their Web page. So if you see an image or article on someone's Web page, it doesn't mean you're free to use it on your own page. To protect yourself, you should get permission from the author before using it. This includes images found on sites like Google Image Search and Flickr. You can't legally re-use these photos without permission from the photographer. Also, remember that in some cases it isn't legal to use someone's picture online without their consent (photos used in news stories are an exception). Be particularly careful when using photos of children. The same goes for performed songs that are copyrighted. You can't legally include them in your church's podcast or your Web videos without permission from the composer. The only exception is if the composer of the song has been dead for more than 50 years, then the song is considered in the public domain and is no longer copyrighted. To get permission for copyrighted music you must contact a licensing agency in your country. For example, in the United States that would be ASCAP (Association of Composers, Authors, and Publishers). For more on copyrights in the United States, visit www.copyright.gov. [image: Tips for Using the Web for Evangelism] *Frequently Asked Questions * Where do I add my Google Analytics code in my v3.0 site? To add your Google Analytics code?used for tracking your Web site's traffic and statistics?go to the* Settings* tab in your Dashboard. Then click on *Google Features* in left-hand menu and scroll down to step three and paste your Google Analytics code into the box. ------------------------------ *To submit a question or an article idea* for future newsletters, click hereto email Nicole Batten. We also encourage you to share your user experiences with us. We may use your story in an upcoming issue. Great ideas and innovative content are meant to be shared! We also encourage you to share links, content, or applications that you think would benefit other *net*Adventist users. *To submit a change of email address* for your own subscription or to unsubscribe, click here. This newsletter is published twice monthly, on the first and third Wednesday of the month, for *net*Adventist users. *Publisher:* Office of Global Technology & Software, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists *Director:* John Beckett *Editor:* Nicole M. Batten *This e-newsletter is a service of netAdventist **and the Office of Global Technology & Software.* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.netadventist.org/pipermail/newsletter/attachments/20081218/8c6e6119/attachment.html