A new church web site

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I have just finished a redesign of our church web site. In fact, I have just finished doing my 5th Mambo Content Management system installation (still have one to go).

Mambo is a software package that lets a designer do a state of the art web site that can then be easily updated by users who know no html. Basically, if you can type a message into NazNet.

There is still some tweaking to do, but I am pleased with how these sites are coming out.

Some are:
http://www.alvinnazarene.org/
http://www.kjic.org/
http://www.ministerialalliance.net/

These all use the same software package, but as you can see they are very flexible in appearance.

[Ken Smith]

redesign

Some are:
http://www.alvinnazarene.org/
http://www.kjic.org/
http://www.ministerialalliance.net/

These all use the same software package, but as you can see they are very flexible in appearance.

Great!! looking sites Scott, well done.
Ken

[Billie Goodson]

Hey Scott,

I visited the first link and looked at the page. I always thought you were a guy? Just kidding..... When you look at the picture of you and your wife, the names are reversed.... I read and see as the newspapers have taught me....just picking on you.

Not a warm looking church....maybe all the warmth is inside? (picture with snow). Is snow that common in Houston -- just curious.

I like the dress code -- "smart casual" -- although I am a dumb dresser, my wife would understand that. I have to get her help in matching everything. I sometimes wonder if she is playing mean tricks on me.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Hey Scott,

I visited the first link and looked at the page. I always thought you were a guy? Just kidding..... When you look at the picture of you and your wife, the names are reversed.... I read and see as the newspapers have taught me....just picking on you.

ha - I think you are giving me a hard time because I mistakenly gave you access to the W2W forum (back before it was opened up anyway!) I probably deserve it!

Not a warm looking church....maybe all the warmth is inside? (picture with snow). Is snow that common in Houston -- just curious.

So far as I know that Christmas snow was the only one on record for the Houston area. I have lived here almost 8 years and that is the only snow we have seen, and I think the area gets snow once every 10 to 15 years. By the way, that snow was exactly what the pictures show. It covered the grass (about 3 or 4 inches I think) but didn't stick to any concrete. So it was a sort of "pre-shoveled" snow. It was all gone by that night. But the kids had a blast while it lasted.

I like the dress code -- "smart casual" -- although I am a dumb dresser, my wife would understand that. I have to get her help in matching everything. I sometimes wonder if she is playing mean tricks on me.

That phrase is not original with me, but I don't remember where I first heard it. I like it too. These days I wear a coat and tie on big days or in the middle of the winter. The rest of the year I join all the other men in the church, dressing in a more casual style.

Also, thanks for the heads up on the audio page. I just went through it and cleaned it up, leaving just the one link. I doubt people need the asx files anymore anyway.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I've been pretty impressed with the Mambo software and thought I would follow up with some Mambo web hosting information that might be useful for some.

If you want to host a website you need certain things:

1. You need a domain name. Basically, you "rent" a domain name and cannot actually own it. You can rent the name for from a year up to ten years. One year might cost as much as $20 (that would be considered high) while 10 years might cost around $7 a year. However...read on.

2. You need a place to host your domain. This is a computer that is a part of the internet. It is something else that you "rent." For a small web site like a church would want (as opposed to Foxnews.com) Domain hosting will cost from $4 to $20 a month. However...read on.

3. You need web pages on your web site. Somebody's 15 year old kid might be able to design a terrific web page for you...but probably not. Still, it might be that you know someone who has actually read some books on web design who would do some pages for you. There are some software packages out there that assist in web design, so that is an option too. Then there are some powerful web page systems that give you a customizable, professional, complete web site. Mambo is such a system. It is free. However...read on.

4. A system like Mambo requires that certain things already be installed on the computer that hosts your domain. Also, it has to be installed by someone who knows what they are doing -- so what you want is a web hosting company that will install Mambo for you. You will still have to do a lot of reading -- and there is tons of information on Mambo at the official web site. Or you can go down to the book store and buy a manual if you want.

I know of at least two companies that do all of the above -- and for just one price. One is www.godaddy.com and the other is www.siteground.com/mambo-hosting.htm. For around $5 a month you get the domain name, the web hosting, and a Mambo system installed and ready to customize.

Now, once you get there your work has just begun. You are going to want your own logos and, of course, to install your own content. This is not for the faint of heart -- however, if you are willing to read and work, you can come up with a very nice web site for that $5 a month.

[Billie Goodson]

Thanks Scott -- a lot of good info there. Has anyone else looked into www.nazarene.ch for hosting? I know one of the two guys that run it and he is a retired postmaster that has been in the church for years. His brother happens to be my father-in-law.... Just a plug for them! Marvin is a really great guy and they are trying to provide a service for churches. I really have not looked into them for a while. I make a terrible web master because I don't stay focused on it long enough. I learn the stuff then it gets boring.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Following up on the Mambo installations....

Apparently, the foundation, whatever, that was funding development of Mambo and some of the developers got into some sort of disagreement. The result was a division, called a "fork" in the development of the content management system.

I've been watching it for awhile, and it seems that the new "fork" called Joomla is the one that is moving forward. For the time being any website that runs under the current Mambo system can be transferred to Joomla, supposedly without too many problems.

I decided to take the leap. I sure won't call it easy. It took me all day to get my website looking more like I want it to look, but as of now I am declaring victory with my www.pastorscott.com site.

The nice thing about Joomla and Mambo is that you are supposedly able to change the entire "look" of the site without the content being impacted. I don't think it is quite to that point yet, but if I worked with it every day rather than having to relearn stuff when I start fooling with it, I think I could get pretty good at updating Joomla and Mambo installations.