the singularity of being and nothingness
stonewallwesleyan.com Launches
I've been away for a while…that's because I've been consumed with work and LAUNCHING A NEW WEBSITE!!!
Okay, that was a bit dramatic. But I am terribly excited about this one. For one, I worked incredibly hard on this. I built every bit of it from scratch, and in the process of development learned an incredible amount about ColdFusion–which was good!
Stonewallwesleyan.com is the new website for my home church, Stonewall Wesleyan Church. It featuers a fully interactive blog, user interface, podcasting, etc. Additionally, there are fairly robust administrative tools for managing calendar events, worship set-lists and schedules, page images, etc. I am pretty happy with it overall.
Anyway, when you have a chance, check it out here .
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Killer Free Icons
about 15 years ago - No comments
Just a quick note: dryicons.com has updated their free icon gallery with some new icon sets, bringing the total to a whopping 16! I've used their icons extensively in a few projects and have been quite pleased. You are checking them out now.
about -1918 years ago
Wow. I love the website. As a hobby I have worked on the websites for the churches I am at and they suck, but I am learning. I am very impressed. Of course, one advantage you have is knowing and learning code which opens up any possibility and I have to use WYSIWYG editors for the most part. However, the design is great and I like how it all flows together.
The administrative tools that manage content for the calendar, worship schedule and what not are things I’d love to know how to do. I’m assuming that it would function kind of like a content management system – where updating information would be fairly easy?
I’ve also enjoyed Deviant Monk’s artistry at his website. I look at these things and wonder, why don’t I have people like that where I am at… Of course then the two of you may call me out on theology and I’d have to burn you at the stake, so there you have it.
Anyway, nice work.
about -1918 years ago
Thanks for the compliments pal! I worked a looonnnggg time on this and, unlike a lot of stuff I’ve put out in the past, I am actually very pleased with the final product.
WYSIWYG editors for producing codes are tough…because of their nature, they tend to limit what can be done. The biggest thing that helped me was getting Dreamweaver. While you still have to learn to code, there are a ton of inline helps that will at least let you know if there are errors, etc.
Also, falling in love with your browser’s "View Source" is crucial. Knowing how different pieces of code work together comes from seeing it working together—sounds obvious, but it takes some work to get down.
As to the data management stuff, that requires some kind of application software that will allow you to manage database information. I personally use ColdFusion. The nice thing about CF is that like HTML, it is tag based, so if you get comfortable with HTML, the switch to CF is not as tough. The idea of what I have done with Stonewall’s site, however, is that of a Content Management System. It is rather limited, but it helps to streamline some of the more routine processes, as well as allowing for a more robust user experience and interaction.
Good to hear from you, as always, and why would you burn me at the stake…?!
about -1918 years ago
You should be pleased, but not to the point of pride, or else! I have my webaccount through bluehost and they have some free content management stuff (eg Yoomla), but you lose so much freedom and I don’t have the time to learn how to code within the program. I really like the idea though. I checked out the ColdFusion stuff on Adobe and since this is a hobby I can’t shell out that sort of cash (or the time it would take to learn it) so I am forced to just admire what you’ve done…
There were some other things design wise I liked though, the site was aesthetically appealing. I’ve looked at a lot of church websites to see what I like and a lot of them are terrible.
<i>Good to hear from you, as always, and why would you burn me at the stake…?!</i>
In order to make up for the lack of theological passion in the UM church (we focus our energy on social issues) I’ve decided to overcompensate. I would only burn you at the stake if you questioned me on something theological.
Actually, I typed that because as I wrote about wishing for the two of you to attend the church I serve I realized that there would be someone there who would be able to call me out on stuff if I wasn’t prepared. Not that I am regularly apostate, but the threat is never there. Of course we have way too much common ground on crucial matters for me to follow through. Speaking of which, a friend of a friend is looking for a baptist church in the area and stayed away from Wesleyan churches because "they teach you can lose your salvation there…" I have now trained my wife to go through the roof just like I do when we hear it put that way.
about -1918 years ago
<i>I checked out the ColdFusion stuff on Adobe and since this is a hobby I can’t shell out that sort of cash (or the time it would take to learn it) so I am forced to just admire what you’ve done…</i>
Actually, with ColdFusion the only cost is when you actually purchase the software to deploy on a webserver–the development version for your computer is free. There are a lot of good, free development platforms for it, such as CFEclipse. I have a lot of good tutorial material if you ever have time/desire to get into it. Plus, hosting services like GoDaddy have cheap ColdFusion hosting, so you never have to actually shell out the chunk of cash.
<i>There were some other things design wise I liked though, the site was aesthetically appealing. I’ve looked at a lot of church websites to see what I like and a lot of them are terrible.</i>
Thanks!
<i>In order to make up for the lack of theological passion in the UM church (we focus our energy on social issues) I’ve decided to overcompensate. I would only burn you at the stake if you questioned me on something theological.</i>
I’ll have to start reading your stuff minutely, for I’ve had difficulty finding things that I would strenuously disagree with you on…!
about -1918 years ago
Neat, I shall peruse through it with post haste! You seem to be one talented man, Joel…