I have worked on this site for some time. We have tried to make it fun and informative. Please visit www.keystonechristianchurch.net and let me know what you think.
I should have noted these are some of the add-ons we are using for the site
componants:
Prayer Request
Events Calender
Joomla Flash Games
Podcasting Suite
Joomlaboard Forum
Community Builder
Joomlaxplorer 1.4 can't get the others to unpack tars
DocMan
Joomap
Zoom Media Gallery
SMO Ajax Shoutbox
Modules:
Flash Rotator
Weather
DJ4 Transmenu
those matching various components
Proverb of the Day
Plugins/mambots:
All Video Plugin
Mosmoduel for placing modules in content
I'll throw our church site into the mix
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JCarnley
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I'll throw our church site into the mix
Last edited by JCarnley on Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
In His Service
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jlleblanc
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
Using the podcasting suite, I see 
Let me know if you need any help with that.
Let me know if you need any help with that.Joseph L. LeBlanc: http://www.jlleblanc.com
Frontend components start here: /components/com_[name]/[name].php
Backend components start here: /administrator/components/com_[name]/admin.[name].php
Frontend components start here: /components/com_[name]/[name].php
Backend components start here: /administrator/components/com_[name]/admin.[name].php
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jmuehleisen
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
Hi Jason,
Very nice. Pleasant to look at.
Here are some suggestions for you to consider:
on your main menu, I'd suggest making the capitalization of your menu items consistent. Some have the first letter capitalized, some are all lower case. I'd suggest choosing one and making all of them consistent.
I like to see the city and state / country of a church readily seen on the site. I can see with a bit of looking that you are in "Export." But, I have no idea where that is, so I'd like to know that you are in Pennsylvania without having to look to hard to find that.
On the "cartoons" page, since you have just one category, I'd say go directly to the thumbnails of the cartoons. Now, if eventually you will have more than one category, you might need that intermediate step, but otherwise, I generally don't like to be taken to a page that has just one option on it. It just seems like an unnecessary step.
I hope that helps!
Very nice. Pleasant to look at.
Here are some suggestions for you to consider:
on your main menu, I'd suggest making the capitalization of your menu items consistent. Some have the first letter capitalized, some are all lower case. I'd suggest choosing one and making all of them consistent.
I like to see the city and state / country of a church readily seen on the site. I can see with a bit of looking that you are in "Export." But, I have no idea where that is, so I'd like to know that you are in Pennsylvania without having to look to hard to find that.
On the "cartoons" page, since you have just one category, I'd say go directly to the thumbnails of the cartoons. Now, if eventually you will have more than one category, you might need that intermediate step, but otherwise, I generally don't like to be taken to a page that has just one option on it. It just seems like an unnecessary step.
I hope that helps!
John Muehleisen
Visit my "Getting Started with Joomla" site: http://www.welcometojoomla.com
Visit my "Getting Started with Joomla" site: http://www.welcometojoomla.com
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JCarnley
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
Thanks for the really good suggestions. I made all those changes today.
In His Service
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jmuehleisen
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
Very good.
Hey, I just noticed a few more things things.
In the text of your newsflash about supporting the troops overseas, there are two misspellings and a punctuation error.
You have:
I think you mean "overseas" ... one word, with "seas" not "sees."
Also, "personnel" is mis-spelled. It has 2 ns.
And, I think you want a period after "overseas." and then capitalize the "Do you know ..."
So, you would end up with:
One more suggestion (which you can feel free to accept or reject!). A bunch of church sites that I have looked at lately have a section on "Visiting? Here's what to expect ..." which I have found quite nice. It gives the person planning to visit for the first time a bit of an idea of what things will be like. Different churches handle things in different ways, but it often includes something about worship style, dress, what happens when you come in the door, is there a nursery or child care available, stuff like that.
It may or may not be applicable in your situation, but I thought I'd mention it.
Oh. On you newsfeeds section, you are limiting the newsfeeds to 5 per feed. That's Joomla's default, but I often find that upping that number to 20 or 30 is nice. The feeds come in quickly enough, and it gives people more possible articles to read.
It's your preference, of course!
And, I liked your favorite icon for your site. Nicely done and a bit of a touch of class there.
On your Staff page (/About Us /Staff) ... the bottom picture of Patrick Antonucci is misaligned. Just add an extra blank line or two above that picture and it will fall back into alignment just fine.
I might also put a comma after each staff member's name and before their title, like this: Jason Carnley, Lead Evangelist. Again, just a suggestion, but I think it will make it flow a bit more naturally.
On your "upcoming events" module in the right column, I think I'd turn on the title to the module so that it clearly indicates that the calendars show special events. You could use the standard title of "Upcoming Events" or "Church Calendar" or "What's Coming Up?" or something like that.
On your missions page, you talk about the "First Christian Church of Martian's Ferry." Do you perhaps mean "Martin's Ferry?" Just wondering (I grew up near there and Martins Ferry was a high school football rival!)
Wow. This ended up a bit longer than I had originally intended. It will be good to watch your site develop.
Best regards,
John
Hey, I just noticed a few more things things.
In the text of your newsflash about supporting the troops overseas, there are two misspellings and a punctuation error.
You have:
We want to expand our outreach to our troops over sees do you know any service personel from this area?
I think you mean "overseas" ... one word, with "seas" not "sees."
Also, "personnel" is mis-spelled. It has 2 ns.
And, I think you want a period after "overseas." and then capitalize the "Do you know ..."
So, you would end up with:
We want to expand our outreach to our troops overseas. Do you know any service personnel from this area?
One more suggestion (which you can feel free to accept or reject!). A bunch of church sites that I have looked at lately have a section on "Visiting? Here's what to expect ..." which I have found quite nice. It gives the person planning to visit for the first time a bit of an idea of what things will be like. Different churches handle things in different ways, but it often includes something about worship style, dress, what happens when you come in the door, is there a nursery or child care available, stuff like that.
It may or may not be applicable in your situation, but I thought I'd mention it.
Oh. On you newsfeeds section, you are limiting the newsfeeds to 5 per feed. That's Joomla's default, but I often find that upping that number to 20 or 30 is nice. The feeds come in quickly enough, and it gives people more possible articles to read.
It's your preference, of course!
And, I liked your favorite icon for your site. Nicely done and a bit of a touch of class there.
On your Staff page (/About Us /Staff) ... the bottom picture of Patrick Antonucci is misaligned. Just add an extra blank line or two above that picture and it will fall back into alignment just fine.
I might also put a comma after each staff member's name and before their title, like this: Jason Carnley, Lead Evangelist. Again, just a suggestion, but I think it will make it flow a bit more naturally.
On your "upcoming events" module in the right column, I think I'd turn on the title to the module so that it clearly indicates that the calendars show special events. You could use the standard title of "Upcoming Events" or "Church Calendar" or "What's Coming Up?" or something like that.
On your missions page, you talk about the "First Christian Church of Martian's Ferry." Do you perhaps mean "Martin's Ferry?" Just wondering (I grew up near there and Martins Ferry was a high school football rival!)
Wow. This ended up a bit longer than I had originally intended. It will be good to watch your site develop.
Best regards,
John
John Muehleisen
Visit my "Getting Started with Joomla" site: http://www.welcometojoomla.com
Visit my "Getting Started with Joomla" site: http://www.welcometojoomla.com
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JCarnley
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
We have three of us who adminstrate the site but none of us have a great attention for detail I need to get my wife envolved she would catch all these things. Thanks for really checking it over well. You may be right about the Martian's Ferry thing I'll check into it. I also upgraded the Zoom Gallery. The newer version works much better.
Thanks agian
Jason Carnley
Thanks agian
Jason Carnley
In His Service
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jmuehleisen
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
I know what you mean about having your wife proofread stuff. My wife is an amazing proofreader. I do stuff, work on it for hours, check it, check it again and think it's perfect, and she comes along and finds 4 errors in the first 3 paragraphs!
Amazing.
On the Martins / Martians Ferry question ... if this is an Ohio town on the Ohio River, across from Wheeling, West Virginia but a little bit farther north, then it is definitely Martins Ferry.
Have a great week!
John
Amazing.
On the Martins / Martians Ferry question ... if this is an Ohio town on the Ohio River, across from Wheeling, West Virginia but a little bit farther north, then it is definitely Martins Ferry.
Have a great week!
John
John Muehleisen
Visit my "Getting Started with Joomla" site: http://www.welcometojoomla.com
Visit my "Getting Started with Joomla" site: http://www.welcometojoomla.com
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J. R. Miller
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
Nice work... one question. How did you get the feed for games to integrate with the site?
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JCarnley
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
The games are installed using the joomlaflashgames component available at http://www.rut-row.com I believe the download is now in the forum somewhere. Then there is also a sticky code for IBPro games. You have to download flash games from various websites such as PNFlashgames.com, IBProdownloads.com, Gaming-Heaven.com. Some of these are listed in the forum at rut-row. Anyway each game has to be configured, enabled, and published. Everything is contained in your Joomla site there is no outside feed. Any logged in member can play and submit a score. The component keeps track of the scores. It's really not all that hard, but it will take time to find games. I'm very picky being a church site we don't want adult content games but there are literally thousands to choose from. Does this help?
In His Service
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J. R. Miller
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
yes, thanks. So if I read you right, the games are actually stored on your site. This (I assume) means that there is no fear that the games will someday "dissapear" when someone takes them off another server. Right? Do you have to pay for each individual game?
I also noticed that there is a cost for the extension. Is it just $39/month or are there other hidden fees?
I also noticed that there is a cost for the extension. Is it just $39/month or are there other hidden fees?
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JCarnley
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
yes, thanks. So if I read you right, the games are actually stored on your site. This (I assume) means that there is no fear that the games will someday "dissapear" when someone takes them off another server. Right? Do you have to pay for each individual game?
I also noticed that there is a cost for the extension. Is it just $39/month or are there other hidden fees?
[/quote]
To my knowledge rut-row is still letting people download the componant for free. The games are also free from various sites as I mentioned before. I believe you will have to make accounts at rut-row, pnflash, and the various IBPro sites. They limit the number of games you can download but they are pretty generous and in a few days you can have a good number. The PNFlash games site has no download limits but they are dated and limited and appearently the site is dead I haven't been there in a while.
As far as the fee DCSFlashgames charges a fee but I think it is only a one time fee at e-kith.com. I am to cheap even for that although I believe their version looks nicer but both componants are based on the original code from PNFlashgames.com. You have to insert a code into the componant from rut-row. Although looking just now they appear to have an updated version which I am not using. The link below takes you to their downloads. You probably have to create an account but I shouldn't cost you anything.
I'll look at the new version and let you know what I think later.
Each game you insert has to be uploaded and configured in the componant. It is a bit tricky in the older version that I use because it is case sensitive and you have to get the file names exact for the game file, and image file. But it works like a charm.
[url=http://forums.rut-row.com/showthread.php?t=2[quote="J. R. Miller "]]http://forums.rut-row.com/showthread.php?t=2[quote="J. R. Miller "][/url]
I also noticed that there is a cost for the extension. Is it just $39/month or are there other hidden fees?
[/quote]
To my knowledge rut-row is still letting people download the componant for free. The games are also free from various sites as I mentioned before. I believe you will have to make accounts at rut-row, pnflash, and the various IBPro sites. They limit the number of games you can download but they are pretty generous and in a few days you can have a good number. The PNFlash games site has no download limits but they are dated and limited and appearently the site is dead I haven't been there in a while.
As far as the fee DCSFlashgames charges a fee but I think it is only a one time fee at e-kith.com. I am to cheap even for that although I believe their version looks nicer but both componants are based on the original code from PNFlashgames.com. You have to insert a code into the componant from rut-row. Although looking just now they appear to have an updated version which I am not using. The link below takes you to their downloads. You probably have to create an account but I shouldn't cost you anything.
I'll look at the new version and let you know what I think later.Each game you insert has to be uploaded and configured in the componant. It is a bit tricky in the older version that I use because it is case sensitive and you have to get the file names exact for the game file, and image file. But it works like a charm.
[url=http://forums.rut-row.com/showthread.php?t=2[quote="J. R. Miller "]]http://forums.rut-row.com/showthread.php?t=2[quote="J. R. Miller "][/url]
In His Service
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J. R. Miller
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- Posts: 10
- Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:44 pm
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Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
thanks for that inside info. I appreciate your time and experience.
Joe
Joe
Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
JCarnley wrote:I have worked on this site for some time. We have tried to make it fun and informative. Please visit www.keystonechristianchurch.net and let me know what you think.
I should have noted these are some of the add-ons we are using for the site
componants:
Prayer Request
Events Calender
Joomla Flash Games
Podcasting Suite
Joomlaboard Forum
Community Builder
Joomlaxplorer 1.4 can't get the others to unpack tars
DocMan
Joomap
Zoom Media Gallery
SMO Ajax Shoutbox
Modules:
Flash Rotator
Weather
DJ4 Transmenu
those matching various components
Proverb of the Day
Plugins/mambots:
All Video Plugin
Mosmoduel for placing modules in content
Very nice. I am working on redesigning my churches website in Joomla. Can you tell me what template you used?
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JCarnley
- Joomla! Apprentice
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:57 am
- Location: Export, PA -- USA
- Contact:
Re: I'll throw our church site into the mix
The Template is 247Portal blue. Check here. On other nice thing is that there are several colors available. When I'm in the mood I switch to green or brown and everything is still the same. It seems like I had to fix something to make it appear correct in IE and it doesn't display perfect in FF but it is hardly noticable. It tends to shrink the search box a little. I guess nothing is perfect. This link might help. http://www.joomlaya.com/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,65/func,selectcat/cat,5/
In His Service
