New YWAM Bases CMS Tutorial Site
At Reef to Outback, and quite a few other YWAM bases around Australia and the world, we are using a custom built Content Management System (CMS). We have gone through quite a process to develop the YWAM Bases CMS, and now it is available to any YWAM base to set-up a free basic base web-site over at ywambases.org, or it can be integrated into a custom base web-site, like YWAM Newcastle at www.ywamnow.com, or a national portal, like YWAM Australia at www.ywam.org.au.I have started to put together some tutorials to help people use the YWAM Bases CMS. You can check out the new web-site at:
I am starting with some basic tutorials on using the staff / student pages that are on the CMS, but I am hoping to continue to develop them to include user administration, base content creation, ministry area administration, etc. The main limiting factor, like everything I try to do now a days, is time...
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Upgrading XAMPP
I had missed a few upgrade patches for XAMPP, my local installation of an Apache / MySQL / PHP web-server on my computer. Since I couldn't find a way to just install the individual patches I figured that I would install the new version over-top of the old one.BIG MISTAKE
My idea for an upgrade instead killed all of the web-sites and MySQL databases that I had installed on my computer. Thankfully I am not currently developing anything new on my local computer, so it isn't the end of the world, but it is a real pain in the but...
Tags: XAMPP WAMP
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IE7 Finally Released
Internet Explorer 7 was finally released today by Microsoft. We have been developing a new web-site for YWAM - Reef to Outback and this is one of the things that we were waiting for before we released it. All that I can say is that I am VERY glad that we waited and didn't release the site last week when we could have.Check out the screen shots below:
This is what the web-site looks like in IE6, Firefox, Opera and Safari (except search bar in Safari looks odd)
And this is what the web-site looks like in IE7!
Needless to say we are now back to the drawing board to figure out what is wrong with the CSS and why it isn't working at all in Internet Explorer 7. We have some ideas, but it is going to take some time to figure it all out.
This is not exactly how we had planned to be spending our week...
Tags: IE7, Browser
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Writing for the Web - YWAM Woodcrest Seminar
One of the YWAM bases around the world that from I can see is leading the way in YWAM for the use of web-technology is YWAM Woodcrest.They have come up with quite a few different courses and programs inthat area and in how to use it within YWAM. This includes the YWAM 4k News Media course that I wrote about previously.Their latest offering is a Seminar on "Writing for the Net". Below is a quote from their web-site about what the course offers:
Didyou know that the way you write for the internet can determine how manyhits you get on Google? ... or whether or not your message appears onthe first page of a search? Do you know there are words to use and waysto add links inside your website to optimize your message, giving yourministry greater exposure and getting more response from all over theworld? It's a whole new way of communicating. Greg Paskal,* a Christianand a technologist will show you how to...Thecourse only costs $50.00 and runs over two days. I know that if I wasanywhere in the area this would be a course that I would definitely beinterested in attending. Below are some of the take-aways that you willgain from the course:
- leverage internet technology
- target specific audiences
- reach across continents and cultures on the worldwide web
- measure response and continually fine-tune your communication on the net
- Foundations of Strategic Writing
- Identifying Effective Technologies
- Researching a Target Audience
- Strategizing Effective Delivery
- Measuring effectiveness
Tags: YWAM
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Do You Want Blog Statistics with your New Template?
For the last week or so I have been trying to figure out why there was no one actually visiting this site. Since I uploaded the new template I was seeing ZERO traffic so I was starting to think that the new template was a real dud, or Yahoo and MSN had joined Google in kicking me out of the search results.Well, here is a word of advice:
- When you load a new template make sure that it includes the scripts needed for your blog stats.
Weird problem with a simple answer. Hopefully I will remember next time...
Tags: Blog Template
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New Blog Template
Well, I've been up late again playing around with the template for this site. Some of the changes are pretty obvious, but here is a list:- Template is optimized for 1024 wide screens now
- Changed to a three column template from a two column template
- Removed the Google AdSense block from the middle of the content (that was only really there because I wanted to see what the new video ads looked like)
- Added an amazon affiliate link to the right sidebar (I get between 4 - 6% commission for any sales though that link)
- Moved the subscribe link and e-mail box to be "above the fold"
- Changed the formatting of the comments so that they stand out more as comments
- I am currently not using any H2 tags, only H1 and then H3, so I want to change that
- Figure out a better way to display the subscribe icon and links
- Fix the display problems between Firefox and IE for the search form and the e-mail subscribe form
Tags: Blog Template
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I am a full time volunteer with Reef to Outback - Youth With A Mission (YWAM) where I work in Communications and Information Technology. I am married to a wonderful wife, we have a five year old son and a one year old daughter.
