This is a series of articles that will be (or were) in the Roseleaf to help you explore what the web site can do for you, and how you can help us make it better.
Please let us know if you have any comments or questions by using the Contact form on the Top Menu, or, if you have a user account, you can add a comment to the article!
This is the first in a series of articles that try to explain how the web site works, how you can use it effectively, how you can do things with it to enhance your life with the church, and where we hope to go with the web site in the future.
Who can use the web site? Anyone with access to a computer and the Internet. If you have a computer and an account that gives you web access, you can do it.
What if you don't have a computer or account? You can still use it. The Sonoma County Public Library has public computers that you can use to access the Internet.
What's on the web site? The top level menu gives you a good idea. To give you a little peek, you can find the following: news and events, including a calendar; some sermons in audio format that you can listen to on your computer; the Roseleaf, often before the printed edition is available; photo albums; staff listing; information on the programs of the church; and a contact form if you want to contact us about anything.
This will be a guided tour, so you should be sitting at your computer while you read the rest of this. Open a browser window (like Internet Explorer) and navigate to http://www.fumcsantarosa.org which will take you to the home page. The site has a top-level menu across the top of every page. You can always get back to the home page by clicking on the photos at the top of every page, or on "FUMC Home." The home page shows you the top-level menu, a welcome message, a listing of News and Events, and a bottom navigation bar.
Your exercise: go to http://www.fumcsantarosa.org/ourwebsite and read the rest of this chapter.
You can find this article and future articles at http://www.fumcsantarosa.org/ourwebsite.
THE REST OF THIS CHAPTER
Welcome to the web site.
The top-level menu is the "buttons" that you see just below the photos at the top of every page. Each button takes you to a major section of the web site. Click on each and see where you go. Notice that when you go to a major section, the left menu shows you items in that section.
You can navigate around the web site by clicking on "links." A link is any spot that, when clicked, will take you to another page on the web site. On our site, they are brown or green, and change color when you move your mouse pointer on top of them. The pointer will change shape, usually to a small "hand," to show you that you are on top of a link.
If a menu item has a "twistie" (a little sideways arrow), then there is another menu below that item. Click on the item to go to that page and expand that part of the menu.
The main part of every page is the large section below the menu bar and to the right of the left menu. If you go to the bottom of this page, or any page, you will see a "breadcrumb" menu that shows you how the page fits into the overall structure of the web site. Click on any link in the breadcrumbs to go to that part of the web site. It's a quick way to go back up the menu tree.
Where can you find the content that I listed above?
Speaking of the menu tree, click on Site Map at the bottom left of any page. The Site Map shows you the overall organization of the web site. It can provide a way for you to find some place on the web site that you have visited but can't remember exactly how you got there. Try it!
At the bottom of each page, you also see links to the Contact Us page, and Login and Register links.
We will explain more about the five major sections in the next article, "How the site is organized."
Our web site is organized in six basic sections:
A feature of all web sites is that they can make it easy for you to go from the page that you are reading to some other page on the World Wide Web. Use "links" to go to another page. For example, did you notice above that some text is in a different color? If you position your mouse pointer on top of that text and click, you will be taken to the linked page. If you haven't tried it, try clicking on a link above. There are LOTS of them.
At the bottom of the left menu, you will see a link "Recent Posts." If you want to find out what has recently been posted to the web site, click on this link to see the list.
That's it for the basic navigation of the web site. Spend some time "cruising around" the site and you will discover happenings at our church you didn't know existed.
Our next article will tell you about how you can use our web site for your use and for sharing our fellowship with others..
Beginning in April, you’ll be able to sign up for an electronic copy of the Roseleaf. To sign up, visit the church website (www.fumcsantarosa.org) and click on Electronic Roseleaf in the left menu. You can also fill out an "I Am Here" card at a church service, being sure to include your e-mail address. Once a month you will receive an e-mail with a link to a copy of the newest Roseleaf, which you can read on-line. By signing up for an electronic copy, you can save paper, printing, and postage. This is good for our church finances and for the environment, too. If you want, you’ll be able to print selected pages or the whole issue.
Of course, don’t forget to visit our website to find out what’s going on at FUMC! Information about how to navigate the website was included in the first two installments of this series. You can read them at http://www.fumcsantarosa.org/OurWebSite.
Another function that our website provides is the ability to sign up for certain church events online. This was offered for the “Confronting the Controversies” series, and will be available for more events in the future. You’ll simply click on the “sign up” link on the event listing, and enter the requested information. Let your fingers do the walking!
You can find the electronic copy of this article on the web site at http://www.fumcsantarosa.org/HowYouCanUseIt
Look for more information on using the church website next month!
If you want to do more with the web site, you will need a user account. It's easy to get an account. Look at the bottom of this page. You will see a line "log in or register ." Notice that the words "log in" and "register" are links. (In the version of this article on the web site, you can actually click on these links in the article.)
If you click on "register," you will go to a page where you can request a user account. We only offer accounts to church members and attendees, as we plan to provide some content only for you. After you request an account, we will approve it and you will be good to go -- log in, that is.
You can create invitations to others to attend our events. Let's say that you looked at the event listing for the Children's Easter Play, The Littlest Donkey, and wanted to invite some of your friends and neighbors to attend. When you read the event listing, you will see a "tab" at the top of the listing, RSVP. If you click on this tab, you will go to a second page where you can create an RSVP to the event. Invite your friends by entering their email addresses and your invitation message. When you return to the RSVP page for this event later, you can see who has responded and what their response was. You can even send a followup email and allow your friends to invite their friends, too. You might get such a large response that you would have to rent a bus to attend!
There are parts of the web site that you can view only if you have an account. Right now, these include minutes of church meetings and Forums. If you would like us to create forums or other church-only areas of the web site, let us know by using the Contact form. (You can find the Contact form by clicking on Contact in the top menu.) Our web site has lots of power to support interactive web features, and we would love to be able to provide them.
You can use the web site to tell us about you. If you go to your user account page by clicking on the link "My account" on the left menu, you can update your email address or phone number, and change your password.
You can find the article on the web site at http://www.fumcsantarosa.org/DoMoreWithAnAccount
What's a testimonial? For our purposes,it is a short statement, one or two sentences, that tell something about you and the church. For example, it might be your thought on why you like attending our services, or what you especially like about Stony Point, Ligaya, SCUMY, Bible classes, whatever is important to you.
We have a place reserved for testimonials on the home page of the church web site. If you look at the lower left, you will see a purpose statement and a photo with "Reach Up, Reach Out" on it. This is actually a space for a set of testimonials that will change about every 5 seconds.
If you would like to contribute a testimonial, click on "Contact" at the top of any web page or "Contact Us" at the bottom of any web page, select the Category of "Testimonial for the web site" and submit your testimonial. We will edit it to fit the space, and we will arrange to get your photo, or a photo that complements your testimonial, to go with it. We can only include a few at a time, so yours may not appear right away. Just be patient and enjoy reading what our FUMC family has to say!
See this article and the rest of the series at http://www.fumcsantarosa.org/ourwebsite.
** DRAFT **
Where do we hope to go with the web site in the future?
Well, there are lots of possibilities. And you can help us to determine what they are.
Some things we plan to do are:
You might be concerned about the security of the information. Since it is only accessible by those with user accounts on the web site, your information would only be available to those with accounts. All information is stored in a database, so it can't be "found" by someone snooping around the web site. We only give user accounts to people we know. You must be a member or staff or regular attendee to have an account.
What else? There are many possibilities. We would really like your input on what you would find most valuable. You can use the site contact page to let us know. Where is it? Look in the upper right of this window, and click on "Contact." It's that easy.