From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org Thu Jan 8 11:34:54 2009 From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter) Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 13:34:54 -0600 Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Volume 4, Issue 1 Message-ID: [image: netAdventist News & Notes e-newsletter] *Vol. 4, Issue 1, Jan. 7, 2009* In this Issue: - Participate in January's *net*Adventist 3.0 Survey - A Beginner's Guide to Podcasting in v3.0 - SEO Starter Advice from Google - FAQ: Why won't the video I uploaded play on my Web site? [image: News and Updates from netAdventist] News and Updates from netAdventist Participate in January's *net*Adventist 3.0 Survey We want to hear from those of you who are using *net*Adventist v3.0 to manage your site(s). We will be scheduling regular surveys over the coming months to help us plan *net*Adventist improvements and gauge how well the software is working. Your time spent completing these short surveys is greatly appreciated. Participate in January's Survey. Thanks, John Beckett Director, Office of Global Technology & Software General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists [image: Helpful Links, Applications, and Content] Tips for netAdventist v3.0 users A Beginner's Guide to Podcasting in v3.0 The podcasting feature in *net*Adventist allows you to broadcast in both audio and video. If you are upgrading from a previous version you will notice some significant changes to the podcasting module. The most exciting new feature is the ability to link additional related materials to your podcast. That means when a viewer downloads your sermon podcast they can also see the study notes you provided, as well as any other media or documents you chose to link to your podcast. Why podcast? If you're a church, you could broadcast your weekly sermons on your Web site for shut-ins. You could also include your Wednesday night Bible study for seekers who don't feel comfortable in a group setting. Schools could podcast a student-run Web broadcast. Ministries could do a weekly podcast around a particular topic, such as health or parenting, to provide additional services to their constituents. Unions or conferences could do a monthly podcast from the president to their pastors or the education director to their teachers. The list goes on. Podcasting enables you to provide fresh, valuable content to keep people coming back to your site while meeting spiritual needs at the same time. Before you begin podcasting, you must first enable the podcasting extension in your *Settings* tab. Just click on *Extensions* in your left-hand menu, then click *Activate* under *Podcasts*. Once you're ready to begin adding entries to your podcast, go to the *Website Pages* tab to manage them. You will first need to name and create your podcast before adding any entries to it. Click on *Podcasts* in your left-hand menu and then select *Add Podcasts* to get started. It will take you through two steps. In the first step, you'll give your podcast a title and decide who you want to share it with. In the second step, you can add actual podcast entries. Here you will be able to provide details about each podcast entry, such as the name of the speaker, the date it was recorded, a description, as well as select additional content from your File Library that is related to your entry, such as a PDF or a photo. Once you have created your podcast, you will be able to easily publish it on *iTunes* (a new v3.0 feature). *net*Adventist makes it easy by providing you with the URL you'll need and a direct link to publish your podcast in the iTunes directory. However, you'll need to have the iTunes software downloaded on your computer to do this (don't worry it's free). To access this new feature, click on the name of your podcast and then scroll down to *Publish to iTunes*. In the next newsletter, we will look at how the News extension functions in v3.0 and how to use it to communicate with your constituents. [image: Tips for netAdventist v3.0 users] Shared Links, Content, and Applications SEO Starter Advice from Google SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a term the piques the interest of most Web masters. It is an integral part of every organization's Web marketing strategy. Through SEO you can improve the volume and the quality of traffic to your Web site. If SEO is an unfamiliar term to you, don't dismay. It basically involves editing your site's content and HTML coding to make it more relevant to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. In other words, SEO is what gets your site listed in one of the top five spots of a Google search. To help Web masters, Google recently published the Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. It tackles the major areas of optimization and tells what pitfalls to avoid. It also links to other helpful resources. Here are a few of Google's recommendations: - *Create compelling and useful content* ? Users know good content when they see it and will likely want to direct other users to it. - *Improve the structure of your URLS* ? Create friendly URLs that are easy to remember and link to. Use descriptive categories and filenames. It will lead to better crawling of your documents by search engines. - *Write better anchor text* ? Anchor text is the clickable text that users will see as a result of a link. This text tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to. Avoid generic words like *page, article*, or *click here*. - *Optimize your use of images* ? All images should have a distinct filename and "alt" attribute. Download Google's complete SEO starter guidehere. [image: Tips for Using the Web for Evangelism] Frequently Asked Questions Why won't my video play on my site? I uploaded it to my File Library, but now I can't seem to access it. I want to stream video on my Web site. Please help! Most likely you aren't using a supported file format. The built-in player only supports Flash and MPEG-4 video formats (it also supports MP3 audio). This includes file extensions like .flv, .mp4, and .mp3. This means only these file types will show-up on your site and be playable. Other file types are uploadable and downloadable, but they won't play in the internal player. There is a free program for Windows, called Videora, that will convert most formats for you. You can find it at www.videora.com. ------------------------------ *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/20090108/b3289b54/attachment.html From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org Mon Jan 12 15:01:28 2009 From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter) Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:01:28 -0600 Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Special Issue Jan. 14, 2009 Message-ID: [image: netAdventist News & Notes e-newsletter] *Special Issue Jan. 14, 2009* *net*Adventist January Survey Clarification There has been some confusion regarding January's survey mentioned in last week's e-newsletter. The question is whether *net*Adventist v2 Web masters who are using v3 but haven't ?et completed their migration should fill in the survey or not. If you have worked with *net*Adventist v3 for *at least a week*, please fill in the survey--even if you haven't completely finished migrating from v2 yet. We want to get feedback from everyone who is using * net*Adventist v3. We're sorry if we weren't clear in our communication! Click here to participate in January's Survey. ------------------------------ *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/20090112/0f8f3bff/attachment.html From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org Thu Jan 22 09:49:39 2009 From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter) Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:49:39 -0600 Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Volume 4,Issue 2 Message-ID: [image: netAdventist News & Notes e-newsletter] *Vol. 4, Issue 2, Jan. 21, 2009* In this Issue: - *net*Adventist 3.0 Transition Guide for North American Sites Now Available - Creating Menus in *net*Adventist v3.0 - Create and Track Web Surveys in Google Docs for Free - FAQ: When will our site be migrated over to v3.0? [image: News and Updates from netAdventist] News and Updates from netAdventist *net*Adventist 3.0 Transition Guide for North American Sites Now Available To help you in the transition from v2.0 to v3.0, a PDF guidehas been developed and is available to download from the *netAserve * Web site. This guide provides a transition checklist, along with instructions for accessing your site for the first time. It also points out differences between versions, lists renamed terms, and assists you in reconstructing your Home page. Please note that additional help resources and tutorials are available at * net*Adventist.org as well. You can also report bugs and make suggestions about the software there. [image: Helpful Links, Applications, and Content] Tips for netAdventist v3.0 users Creating Menus in *net*Adventist v3.0 In *net*Adventist v3.0 you have the option of a vertical or horizontal main menu, which is dictated by the template and theme you choose to use. You do have the option of adding submenus under you main menu as well. This will help keep your main menu limited to the most important items. Think carefully about words you use in creating your main menu as they are indicators to people of where to find the information they are looking for. Your main menu is the key to making your site user-friendly to navigate. If you are migrating from v2.0, you will notice that only your main menu converted over to your new site. Any submenus will have to be recreated. You have two options for this: 1) you can integrate all your menus into the main menu using the Sub Item option; or 2) you can add another menu, separate from the main menu, on each template you create. Most people find it easier to manage all their menus in one place under the main menu. However, creating separate menus can have its advantages, especially if you prefer to have different menus appearing in different areas of your site. For example, all your Pathfinder pages can use a Pathfinder template which uses a Pathfinder menu. Thus only your Pathfinder pages display this specialized menu. To be able to create specialized menus, you will need to first add the *Menu * widget to a specific template. This can be accessed under the *Settings *tab, then *Templates*. Once you do this, you can click on the Menu link in your template and it will open a lightbox for you to customize your specialized menu. To create or make changes to your main menu, go to the *Website Pages* tab and click on *Main Menu* on the left-hand side of your screen. Here you can add your menu items and specify what each menu item should link to. You can choose to link to a content page, such as News, Events, or Store, or you can choose to link to an external Web site address (just be sure to include the http:// if you do). You will also see *Add Sub Item* in your *Menu Item* screen; this is where you can add submenu items under your main menu items. Don't forget to save before you exit or your changes will be lost. You should then see your new menu items that you added. They're automatically placed at the bottom of your menu. Just drag and drop to arrange them according to your personal preference. [image: Tips for netAdventist v3.0 users] Shared Links, Content, and Applications Create and Track Web Surveys in Google Docs for Free If you're considering a Web survey for your church, school, or conference constituents, Google Docs offers a free service that enables you to create your own online surveys and track response statistics in real time. There is no cost and anyone can do it. All you need is a Google account, which can be set-up with or without Gmail. To get started, login to your Google account and select *Google Docs*, then click on *New* in the top menu and select *Form* from the drop-down list. Once you're finished building your form, you can either create a link to the form, embed the form on a Web page in your site, or even embed it in an email (which means respondents can fill out the form directly from their email client). Also, respondents don't even have to sign-in to Google or have a Google account to fill out your survey. Your form is always linked up with a spreadsheet, which means you can view your response statistics as a graphic (pie charts, etc.) or as a spreadsheet. All received survey responses are automatically added to the spreadsheet and tracked in real time. For easy tracking, you can install an iGoogle widgetthat will list your recent active forms with the new responses highlighted. Check out this link for more on creating and tracking forms in Google Docs . [image: Tips for Using the Web for Evangelism] Frequently Asked Questions When will our site be migrated over to v3.0? The migration timeline from v2.0 to v3.0 is different for each hosting provider (i.e. division, union, or conference). *net*Aservehas posted a migration schedule on their site. Check it to verify your host provider's migration status. Hosting providers that have finished their migration will have a green check next to their name. When your hosting provider begins its migration, *net*Aserve will send an email to your Web master notifying him or her of how to proceed. ------------------------------ *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/20090122/d89a6b18/attachment.html