ICCM '96 Session "Creation and Management of a Web Site"

ICCM '96 Session Notes

"Creation and Management of a Web Site"

Robby Richardson of Gospel Communication Network and Jonathan Marsden of MAF Cross Connect stepped in to conduct an impromptu question and answer session on the topic.

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Introduction

Why do you want to be on the Web? You do not want to be on the web just to be on the web. You need an infrastructure behind the web. What is it going to take for us to complete the whole package, our goal? This session was done in a question/answer format.

Does it matter the platform html page is written on if you will be using various types of web servers? Not really. It should be transportable to any server (Netscape, etc). However, if you are using a "nifty feature" from a certain server, there may be problems. Content that is very static (missions statements, contact information, etc) is very transportable. Content that is very dynamic may not be as useful being put on a web sight without some database or CGI programming behind it. Look at how a hosting site handles updating. Do you control the FTP updates or does someone at the host have to update. How will you work within those perimeters? Gospelcom.net is free because they have donor support, however not everyone qualifies to be on their site. MAFxc charges $40 per quarter. Being at a site that hosts multiple ministries offers a "mall-effect" because people see your site while visiting other sites.
Are there Christian organizations who have Real Audio? Yes. Gospel Communications Network and WingNet.
How do I make a home page exciting enough to receive repetitive hits? You need to have the type of content that people will want to come back for. Do not let it become static--change it every so often. When setting up web pages, ask yourself what are the questions people have been asking you over the telephone, in letters, etc. That will likely tell you what the people are interested in & what they will repetitively "hit." Things like current prayer request (i.e. crusades coming up in a country), having an abundance of resources available for free, links to search engines, & how to stuff (FAQ) give people reasons to come back. Don't recycle existing brochures.
What tools do you use when you have many people & a lot of content? We keep the technical side, but the ministry does all the content. Do not trap all the content in one site. People have used geneological software to track child & parent pages/links. SiteMill, FrontPage (MicroSoft) are software packages to use for web page development. There are many freeware and shareware packages available on the Internet. Start with Yahoo's reference list under their Computer section. One option is to develop content on an in-house intranet and then when it's gone through a few iterations move it to the Internet.
Discussion of Relative vs Absolute links:
If you use hard/absolute links, you can end up hurting yourself if you ever need to move files around.
relative: <A HREF="fred.html">link phrase</A>
The above link will always look for "fred.html" in the current directory.
relative: <A HREF="../fred.html">link phrase</A>
This is also a relative link. This will go back up one directory in the tree and look for fred.html.
absolute: <A HREF="http://www.myname.com/fred.html>link phrase</A>
This looks for "fred.html" *ONLY* off the main directory of www.myname.com.
absolute: <A HREF="~fred/dogs/daschunds/fred.html">link phrase</A>
This will look for "fred.html" in the /dogs/daschunds subdirectory under fred's home directory. If Fred ever changes his directory names, the link is lost.
Can you have too many or too few links on a web page? It depends on what you want to do. If you have a page to link people to many resources, you may have a page full of links. However, if you want people to read your content, you may not want as many links.
The guestbook is an excellent way to make a site "interactive." It is not good to put the counter on the web page for everyone to see it. If you use statistics internally, it is good. Statistics can be used by those who develop the web site to know where to pour resources into. One site uses the guestbook wisely by giving people a password to access some of their material to download only if they fill out the guestbook.
What are tricks to control/filter the response? When one e-mail address gets too much mail, have a program to send the e-mail to different people based on the people's response (ie. guestbook with radio buttons that point the person's request to different e-mail accounts for donations, long-term opportunities, short-term opportunities, etc).
Which cash system should one ask for on a server? SSL (secure sockets layer) is a standard in many new web servers and browsers which allows for reasonably secure transactions (i.e., sending credit card numbers). Eventually, the secure encrypted transaction will likely be the way people will go. The First Virtual Bank will not likely be the way people go.
Do you recommend using the scroll method or screen by screen? Screen by screen is good for those who have never used the Internet before. However, they soon learn what the scroll bar is for. You should break-up the content into sections that are logical & coherent. If you have a large page, put a table of contents so I can go to the page I really want. Consider providing common formats (RTF, or Word format) or combining multiple documents for download when people may want some resource you provide.
Please discuss interactive chat forums. GCN used hyper news (interactive discussion groups)--thread response to the right places. They are going to the idea of interactive chat. They now use I-Chat, which allows various people to be controlled by the moderator & has a split screen format. Web chat is fine, but it is disconnected to the e-mail.
What does it take to develop a web page? Money, time & knowledge-- either very little or a lot. There is free software to FTP your page to a web site. A very basic html page is fairly easy to do.

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