Pantano Elders have approved updated language to our belief statement. See the updated Belief and Commitment page in the Visitors section of the website.
Website Help and News Archives » January 2007
Great news! We’ve decided it would be prudent and helpful to the global Church community to release our modified version of WordPressMU (multi-user). From the WordPressMU website description:
Ever dream of running hundreds of thousands of blogs with a single install of WordPress?
WordPress MU, or multi-user, is designed to do exactly that. It is most famously used for WordPress.com where it serves tens of millions of hits on hundreds of thousands of blogs each day.
It makes a great church website content-management-system (CMS), but there are some important changes needed in the PHP source. We’ve made those changes and continue to do so. It is an informal process, but we will try to post updates regularly.
I don’t have a changelog because I didn’t keep one, but here is a list of some of the changes:
- Backend Dashboard shows a list of links to all blog Dashboards instead of the WordPress development blog
- “Blogroll” menu option is “Links” which is friendlier verbage for users
- “Plugins” menu option is added back in
- Plugin and theme editing is enabled for administrators
- Several WordPress and MU plugins are preinstalled (but must be activated per-blog)
- TinyMCE Editor has many more buttons and options enable
- Zip files can be served from posts (added especially for this post!)
Download WordPressMU, Pantano Edition
(version 20070125, based on WordPressMU 1.0)
I heard some people having problems with the flash player, so I wanted to provide two essential flash related links…
» Check your version of flash player
It is important to know what version you have installed (you must have version 9 at the very least)
» Download the most recent version
I am just echoing Bill’s first update about this. It’s really simple to download and use.
The new PCC website was launched one week ago. There were many trails to blaze leading up to the site launch, but our first week has been really great.
In the first week, we had:
62,835 total hits
27,894 page views
2,364 visitors
1,200 unique visitors
and roughly 420 feed/email subscribers
In addition to so many visitors, we also had a few bugs. After several user comments and emails (those are great, keep them coming!), we discovered that the “Previous Entries” link on the bottom of blog and archive pages didn’t work. Since those links are dynamically generated, I had to sift through some WordPress code to figure out where the real problem was. In the end, it was a single line that needed to be removed. The Events page went through a major face lift so that it would show event dates, rather than post dates. That required the use of a WordPress plugin called RS Event (which I had to modify a bit).
The Weekend Messages blog, and its ever-important podcast, saw a few design changes to accommodate for messages that aren’t in a series. Also, both the series and titles are now displayed in iTunes. On the Pantano E-News blog, a bug in the comment form was giving us some grief, so we ended up disabling the spam-filter plugin. As a result, all comments on the E-News blog must be approved by an administrator or the post author.
You can see a list of major upcoming features we plan to launch in the next few months. There are also a few minor updates, including uploading some past messages and their podcasts, getting videos to work in feeds and emails, and publishing a new Welcome/What to Expect video that doesn’t make your eyeballs swirl. :)
As always, you can leave feedback here or on the Website Team Sandbox, or you can send an email to webmaster@pantanochristian.org. This website exists for both the Pantano family and guests, so you can “help us help you” by asking questions and letting us know what you would like to see!
The FEED button that can be seen on several sections of the Pantano website has a useful purpose. Each FEED button links to the syndication feed (also known as an RSS feed) of that blog. For example, on the Pantano E-News blog, the FEED button directs you to the Pantano E-News syndication feed.
- What is a syndication feed?
A feed is a special web format that we use to easily distribute content on our website. You can subscribe to feeds using a “feed reader.” Feeds are very similar to podcasts. In fact, a podcast is really just a feed with audio attached. When you subscribe to a feed, it will be updated in your feed reader as we add content. For example, when Pastor Glen Elliott posts his weekly E-News, it will arrive in your feed reader. Feeds are NOT email, and a feed reader is not an email inbox, but there are some similarities. In the case of E-News, you have access to the feed through a special email subscription service. However, normal feeds will not have this email subscription available. - So… what? What’s the big idea about syndication feeds?
Simplicity. Instead of checking Pantano’s website for updates every day, the updates are delivered to you. You can subscribe to an unlimited number of feeds from our website and any other site on the web. Each morning, when I open my feed reader, I read content from Pantano, friends’ and colleagues’ blogs, CNN, Slashdot News, Google Blog, and much more. And I never actually visit those websites (unless I want to leave a comment). - What are some good feed readers?
There are several online feed readers. They all require that you sign up (so you can store your list of feeds), but registration will always be free.- Google Reader (recommended)
- Bloglines
- NewsGator
The PCC website utilizes blogs to present information in a discussion format. We hope to foster online discussions of the content on our site. On pages that utilize blogs like Pantano E-news and Stories along the Path and our Weekend Messages you can post comments. At the bottom of each post you will see a link that says “No Comments” or “1 Comment” to indicate there is 1 comment. Click on this link to read the existing comments or to create a comment of your own. Your comment will be posted onto the site and emailed to the author.
- What is podcasting?
From Wikipedia: Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio or video programs, over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. The term, coined in 2004, combines ‘iPod’, a popular portable audio device, and ‘broadcasting.’
- I click PODCAST and nothing happens.
The ‘PODCAST’ button is for iTunes users. It will open iTunes and download the podcast automatically. To subscribe with iTunes, you need at least version 4.9. Download iTunes, it’s free.
- Can I use a podcast reader other than iTunes?
Yes, you can use any podcast-capable RSS reader. Click the ‘FEED’ button to open the RSS feed from FeedBurner in your favorite podcast reader. If you don’t have one, try Juice, an open-source podcast reader. Google Reader is a great online podcast reader.
- Do I need an iPod to listen to the messages?
No. Most messages are available to play through the streaming Flash player provided on each message page. You can also click the “Download mp3″ link to download the message to your computer. You can listen to the mp3 files with any mp3-compatible software or player (e.g., Windows Media Player, WinAmp, etc.) However, the iPod integration with iTunes is superb.
- How many messages will be available in the podcast?
The audio podcast will offer all of the past messages for free (from 08/13/2006).
- Can I burn a CD of the podcast?
As long as it is not for resale or profit, you can burn the podcast to a CD.
- How frequently will you update?
Updates are available weekly. Usually the message is posted by noon on Sunday.
- What format is the podcast available in?
The podcast is encoded in the mp3 format. For the technically-minded, it is a mono (single-channel) MPEG 2 Layer 3 audio file, encoded at a constant bitrate of 32, with a sampling rate of 22khz. - Why are some messages missing the snazzy Flash player?
Prior to November 5, 2006, the Production Team had been encoding podcast mp3 files at a sampling rate of 24khz, which is incompatible with Adobe Flash Player 9. We are in the process of re-encoding these files and plan on providing a Flash player for every single message within the next few weeks. The “SOS” Solomon on Sex series will be also available again soon within the podcast feed and with Flash controls.
The PCC Website utilized two different menu systems. The menu on the left side navigates you to the pages for that ministry. For example: selecting “Men” will take you to the “MenZONE” (the Men’s ministry pages). The menu on the right side navigates you to the various pages and blog posts for that ministry. Blog posts are typically categorized by topic and under the title “Categories”. There might be several posts within each category and a post can be part of multiple categories.
From the main “landing” page we have four sections to enter into. The first is our visitors page with information about PCC and descriptions and videos describing who we are and what our weekend experience is like. The PCC Family page is the heart of the site with links to the various ministries and resources that are available at PCC. The Events page lists upcoming events at PCC. The Messages page catalogs our weekend messages.
Our site employs a Flash video control to play our videos in a constant stream over the Internet. If you are not able to play the videos, or if you have sound without pictures (a common problem with older versions of Internet Explorer), try downloading the latest Adobe Flash Player plug-in from Adobe at adobe.com. Note: videos don’t work yet in the RSS feeds and Email subscriptions through FeedBurner. We’re looking into the problem.
