Admin Howto

Logging into the website

Go to the website at http://gracebible.org.au/wordpress. At the bottom of the page you will see a little link called ‘Login’. Click that and enter your credentials. Once logged in, you have two extra menus in the main menu bar: Members (this is what people see when they are logged on as a regular churchgoer) and Admin, which contains a bunch of useful links for site administrator.

Alter Website Front Page

Much of the front page is done by “widgets”, which are little modules (boxes) that appear in certain places. For instance, one widget area is at the top right, where the sermon times are listed, and one module area is the right-hand sidebar. You can drag widgets in and out of these areas from the back-end to add things to or remove things from these two places.

Widget management area:

  • Log onto the website
  • On the left, mouse over where it says ‘Appearance’ and click the little down arrow that will appear there so the dropdown menu appears.
  • Click ‘Widgets’ to be brought to the Widget management page
  • The widget areas are over on the right: we have ‘topright’ and ‘sidebar’. You can drag things in and out of these two areas from the ‘Available Widgets’ and ‘Inactive Widgets’ boxes.

Add a new widget

To add a new widget, e.g. to the sidebar, simply find it in the Available Widgets box and drag it into the Sidebar box. It can be put in whatever position you want with regards to the other widgets that are already in the sidebar. As soon as you let it go, it is saved in that position, and if you reload the page showing the website frontpage, you will see the change.

Remove a widget

To get rid of a widget, drag it from the Sidebar EITHER to the Available Widgets area or to the Inactive Widgets area. IMPORTANT: If you want to keep the content/settings of the widget (this is particularly important with regards to “Text” widgets that contain HTML) you must drag the widget the the Inactive Widgets area. if you drag it to the Available Widgets area, it will be deleted instead of deactivated. So if there is a widget (e.g. Introducing God) that you only want up sometimes, drag it to and from the Inactive Widgets area, so you dont’ have to regenerate the HTML every time.

Most of the widgets are pre-programmed to do stuff already (e.g. Latest Posts) but there is one, that I have made use of, which just takes plain text or HTML. Unfortunately, Widgets can’t use the WYSIWYG editor.

Upload an image

While you can upload an image on the fly while writing a blog entry or adding a new page, sometimes it is necessary to upload one ahead of time, for instance if you wanted to use it as a widget.

  • Log into the website
  • Click on the ‘Media’ link over on the left
  • Choose the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the page
  • Click ‘Browser uploader” (it’s more stable than the Flash one)
  • Browse to the image you want from your computer, and click ‘Upload’. IMPORTANT: images you upload should really be 100kb or less in size. This means, most likely, that you must resize them before uploading them into wordpress. Generally a good width for an image used in a blog or some such is anywhere from 250 – 750px. Large images make loading website pages much slower for people.
  • Once the image is uploaded, it will show up in the media library. If you mouse over it, you can view it, delete it, or edit it.
  • If this is an image that will be used again and again, it might be good to assign it alt text right now to save yourself the trouble later. mouseover the image in the media library and choose ‘Edit’. You can then assign the alt text (caption is not necessary) and a description if you like, and see the image URL. Don’t forget to Update once you’ve made changes.
  • To get the URL of an image (e.g. if you are going to use it in a widget) mouse over it in the media library and choose ‘Edit’. Copy the File URL from the bottom of the page that comes up.

Introducing God banner

To make the Introducing God banner appear on the frontpage in the right-hand column

  • Log on to the website
  • On the left, mouse over where it says ‘Appearance’ and click the little down arrow that will appear there so the dropdown menu appears.
  • Click ‘Widgets’ to be brought to the Widget management page
  • Find the module named ‘Introducing God’ in the Inactive Widgets area and drag it into the sidebar area where you want it to appear
  • You can reorder the items in the sidebar by dragging and dropping
  • To deactivate the ‘Introducing God’ banner, drag it from the sidebar back into the Inactive Widgets area

Add a promotion/ad to the right hand column

The easiest way to do this and have it look nice would be to make an image of whatever it is that you are advertising. The image should be 300px wide, and any height — though staying between 50px and 250px high is probably a good idea.  You can also, however, add text instead, or a combination of text and images.

  • Log on to the website
  • On the left, mouse over where it says ‘Appearance’ and click the little down arrow that will appear there so the dropdown menu appears.
  • Click ‘Widgets’ to be brought to the Widget management page
  • Drag a new ‘Text Widget’ from Available Widgets into the Sidebar area
  • Enter in whatever text and/or HTML you want to enter. In the instance of an image, you would need to upload the image to the site first  — see the uploading images section. Once the image is uploaded and you ahve the URL, the HTML to insert an image is as follows: <img src=”url-of-image” alt=”Short description of image” /> Simply paste that into the text widget and click the Save button at the bottom of the widget.

Change the Memory Verse

  • Log in to the website
  • On the left, mouse over where it says ‘Appearance’ and click the little down arrow that will appear there so the dropdown menu appears.
  • Click ‘Widgets’ to be brought to the Widget management page
  • Click the little arrow in the  ‘Memory Verse’ widget title to make the content appear
  • In the text area, type in the new memory verse.
  • Click ‘Save’ at bottom.

Change the Quick Links

  • Log into the website
  • Select ‘Links’ from over on the left
  • Mouse over a link and choose ‘Edit’ to change it, or select ‘Add New’ from the top of the page
  • Link URLs must be complete (including http://), not relative
  • Name, Web Address, and Description should all be filled out. The Name is what will appear visually, and the Description will appear on mouseover.

Edit Bible Reading Plan

The only thing you can change with regard to the bible reading plan is how many days worth will show up on the frontpage.

  • Log into the website
  • Select ‘Module Manager’ from the ‘Extensions’ menu
  • Choose ‘Bible Reading Plan’ from the list of modules
  • Select how many previous and future days you want displayed, on the right
  • Don’t change the download URL or else the displayed readings won’t match the downloadable version!
  • Click ‘Save’ at upper right

Edit Service Times

There are two places that the Service times must be edited: on the frontpage where they are displayed, and in the article that describes our services.

  • Log into the website
  • Select ‘Module Manager’ from the ‘Extensions’ menu
  • Choose ‘Service Times’ from the list of modules
  • In the ‘Custom Output’ field, change the service times appropriately
  • Click ‘Save’ at upper right
  • Now select ‘Article Manager’ from the ‘Content’ menu
  • Click on the title of the article titled ‘Worship’
  • Change the service times where they show up in that article
  • Click ‘Save’ at upper right

Change Website Content

Add a New Blog Entry

  • Log into the website
  • Front the Admin menu, select New Blog Entry
  • Enter a title for the blog entry, and use the large box to enter the content of the entry. Use the formatting buttons above the box to change formatting. It would be good to keep formatting to a minimum for simplicity.
  • To add an image, click the ‘Add an Image’ button from the iconic menu bar atop the text area. You can pick one that is already on the server, paste in a URL to an online image, or upload one from your computer. Try to keep any images reasonably small. It can be good for flow if the images are aligned to the left or right. Alignment can be selected in the Image popup.
  • To add a video, you should know the URL of the video, and the dimensions. Where you want the video to appear, type [.youtube w=width h=height]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3QRLcTeeo4[/youtube] Keep in mind if your width is less than 250, the fullscreen button will not show up. You don’t *have* to specify width and height (just leave them out of the tag): the default is 448 x 386.
  • When you are finished, click ‘Publish’ at the right of the page.

Edit a Blog Entry

  • Log into the website
  • Browse to the blog entry in question by clicking on the title of it  – you can read the blog entries by selecting ‘Church Blog’ from the ‘Resources’ menu.
  • Once you are looking at that entry alone, click on the small Edit icon at the top of the entry
  • Edit and Save the content as described in the Add a New Blog Entry section

Add a Sermon

  • Log into the front end
  • From the Admin menu, select New Sermon
  • Fill out all the information accordingly. You can ignore certain sections, such as length and the entire store section.
  • Once done, click Save and Enter Media Information (at the top)
  • If you want to attach an MP3 or a PDF, now enter in those details. Say No to the AVReloaded bit. Say No to the Download icon bit. Ignore the Podcast bit. For Image, path, and MIME type, choose either mp3 or PDF. Use the Choose File box to upload the file from your computer.
  • Click Save when you are done.
  • If you wish to add another media file (PDF/mp3), click Add a New Media File Record from the main sermons page and  fill it out much as before.

Edit a Sermon

  • Log into the front end
  • Go to Resources -> Online Sermons
  • Click the Edit link next to the relevant sermon
  • Edit the information accordingly. You can ignore certain sections, such as length and the entire store section.
  • Once done, click Save and Enter Media Information (at the top)
  • To edit an existing MP3 or a PDF file, scroll to the bottom of the Edit Sermon page and click on the media file in question. Change any details. Say No to the AVReloaded bit. Say No to the Download icon bit. Ignore the Podcast bit. For Image, path, and MIME type, choose either mp3 or PDF. You can change the existing file by clicking the Choose File box to upload another file from your computer (just make sure to erase what is in the Filename field, or that will take precedence).
  • Click Save when you are done.
  • If you wish to add another media file (PDF/mp3), click Add a New Media File Record from the main sermons page and fill it out much as before.

Add a new Entry to the Directory

  • Log into the front-end and choose ‘New Directory Entry’ from the ‘Admin’ menu
  • Fill out the necessary information and click ‘Submit’. Only first & last names are required.
  • Images must be uploaded via the back-end ahead of time in order to be selectable from the dropdown list: see below.

Edit a Directory Entry

  • Log into the front-end and choose ‘Church Directory’ from the ‘Members’ menu
  • Select the family you want to edit and click on the little ‘Edit’ icon next to the name
  • Edit the information as required and click ‘Submit’. Only first & last names are required.
  • Images must be uploaded via the back-end ahead of time in order to be selectable from the dropdown list: see below.

Add an image to the Church Directory

  • Log into the back-end and choose ‘Media Manager’ from the ‘Site’ menu.
  • Click on the folder named ‘directory’
  • At the bottom of the page, click ‘Choose file’ and browse to the file you want to upload.
  • Images to be uploaded must be approximately 175px x 175px in size.
  • Click ‘Start Upload’. The image should appear in the folder shortly: now it will be available when adding to or editing the church directory.

Add Event to Church Calendar

  • Log into the front-end and browse to the calendar
  • As you mouseover each day, a little plus sign will show up in that day
  • Click the plus sign to add a new event on that day
  • Fill in a title, location and description of the activity, and choose a colour if you want (contact info not necessary)
  • If you want the event only to show up when someone is logged in, choose ‘Registered’ from the ‘Access level’ dropdown box
  • To edit date/time and set any recurrence, click the ‘Calendar’ tab at the top of the Edit Event form
  • Once you have finished setting up the event details and date/time, click ‘Save’ at upper right

Edit Existing Calendar Event

  • Log into the front-end and browse to the calendar
  • Find the event you want to edit in the calendar, and click on it
  • When it brings you to the Event view of that event, click on the ‘Edit’ icon over on the right and choose ‘Edit Event’
  • Follow instructions to edit and save as above

Upload a New Roster

Change a page or blog post on the website

Almost all the content on the website is contained in ‘articles’. For instance, each home group has its own article, the contact page is an article, the information about who we are as a church is in articles. It is easy to update the content of these articles.

  • Log into the website
  • Depending on whether you are changing a (static) page or a blog post, click the little triangle next to either Pages or Posts over on the left to make the menu drop down
  • Click on the ‘Edit’ menu option
  • Click the page or post that you want to edit
  • Change the content of the article.  Use the formatting buttons above the box to change formatting. It would be good to keep formatting to a minimum for simplicity. If you want to see the HTML code for what you are writing, click the HTML button over on the top right of the editing textarea.
  • Click ‘Update’ over on the right

Adding video to an article

You should know the URL of the video and its dimensions. Where you want the video to appear, type [.youtube w=width h=height]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3QRLcTeeo4[/youtube] You do not have to specify width and height unless you want to (you can just erase the w and h parameters): the default is 448 x 386.

Adding audio to an article

You can just make a URL link to wherever the audio is if you like. Alternately, if you wantt he audio to show up in a little player like the sermons do, insert it like this: [.audio:path-to-audio-file] e.g. [.audio:http://heargoodnews.us/Bible/matt/40Mat001.mp3]

Adding an image to an article

Click the little black and white rectangle right next to ‘Upload/Insert’ at the top of the textarea. You can pick one that is already on the server, paste in a URL to an online image, or upload one from your computer.If you are uploading and it doesn’t seem to be working, click the ‘Browser uploader’ link instead. Sometimes the Flash uploader goes a bit wacky.

Giving the image a caption is not necessary, but giving an alt tag is important.

Try to keep any images reasonably small. It can be good for flow if the images are aligned to the left or right. Alignment can be selected in the Image popup.

Adding URL links to an article

To add a link to text that is already there:

  • Select the text in question
  • Click the ‘Link’ button from the iconic menu bar atop the text area (it looks like a little chain)
  • Put in the link information and save

To create a new link:

  • Click the ‘Link’ button from the iconic menu bar atop the text area (it looks like a little chain)
  • Put in the link information and save. The text used will be the same as the URL.

To remove a link:

  • Put your mouse cursor somewhere within the link
  • Click the ‘Unlink’ button from the iconic menu bar atop the text area (it looks like a broken chain)

Adding a Google map to a post/page

Where you want the map to appear, type in as follows: {.gmap|10 Yuletide Street, Holland Park, QLD Australia|800|600} Obviously replace the address, the width and height. Here 800 is width and 600 is height (pixels).

Adding a Contact form to a page

At some time you might want to add an email contact form somewhere in a page — for instance on a homegroup page. To do this, at the point you want the form to appear, type:

[.osw-contact-form subject=”%name% (%email%) sent an email from Grace Bible Church website” to_email=”email@example.com”]

%name% will be replaced with the sender’s name, %email% with the sender’s email. Change the subject and email accordingly. Both subject and to_email are optional, if you want to use the defaults (default email is church@gracebible.org.au)