Hello all,
We did some upgrading to the system last night, and there have been reports of missing images on some sites. We are looking into the issue.
Thanks for your patience,
Matt
Disappearing images
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Got a website policy? Share it!
We’ve had some PCCWeb users ask about website policies, such as for photos or comments. PCCWeb leaves this up to the individual congregation using the service to create.
But, in the spirit of sharing, if your congregation has developed a policy for any aspect of its online presence, please let us and others know. If you can, post a link to a document to let others see the details, or email communications@presbyterian.ca.
Updated Images tutorial
I just updated the images tutorial with one that looks more closely at how to edit and manipulate images in WordPress:
Changing a link to a file
Just a quick tutorial explaining how to change a link to a file. Basically all you have to do is add the new file through the Media Uploader (“Add Media”), copy the link it provides for you, and insert a new link on the selected text using the copied link.
Registering a domain name (through GoDaddy.com)
Although the title says “…(through GoDaddy.com)”, the principles covered in the video are applicable for registering a domain through any domain registrar.
Essentially, when you’re registering a domain name for your PCCWeb site, you just have to specify in change the nameserver settings that you are hosting your site with another provider. Then, you have to tell your registrar to point your domain name to the PCCWeb webserver. You do this by changing your nameserver entries. These must be changed to:
| Nameserver | ns1.presbyterian.ca | ns2.presbyterian.ca |
| IP Address | 70.38.86.241 | 70.38.86.242 |
GoDaddy.com requires nameservers with IP addresses; however, not all registrars will require these.
Again, we can help with this process. Just let us know.
Looking at inputting text
In this very long tutorial (12+ min) I try to show that inputting text, especially when pasting from Microsoft Word, can sometimes give unexpected and inconsistent results.
The crux of the tutorial is as follows:
- Avoid copying text from MS Word. If you have to, you can try using the ‘Paste from Word’ feature, which should work most of the time, but not always: not all styling/formatting will be removed. Instead, copy from Word, paste into a text editor like TextEdit (Mac) or NotePad (PC) first, to remove the unseen formatting that Word adds to text.
- Check (and experiment with) the HTML editor. If there is something not displaying correctly, it’s probably a tag hidden in the HTML editor. The HTML editor will show you exactly what will be output to the screen (NOTE: With the exception of <p> tags, but only sometimes . . .).
- Don’t use Headers (h1, h2, etc) to increase font size. If you feel that your theme’s font size is too small, this can easily be adjusted by installing the Custom CSS plugin. If you don’t have administrator status on your site, just ask me to install it. This is an easy way to make changes to theme elements like font-size.
How to embed a Google Map in a Page or Post
There is an issue with trying to embed a Google Map in a WordPress Page or Post: it disappears unless you do it a certain way. In this tutorial I demonstrate a workaround.
One correction to the video: if you only want a link to a Google Map, instead of an embedded Google Map, you’ll want to grab the “Paste link in email or IM” code” instead of the “Paste HTML to embed in website” code from the Link box on the Google Maps page. That way your link won’t be wrapped in <small> tags, which makes your font tiny.
How to upload a sermon mp3 into a post
I just added a new tutorial explaining how to add a sermon mp3 audio file into a post so it will show up on your News page:
http://pccweb.ca/tutorials/#sermon
Note that this only works with mp3s (not WMAs — Windows Media). When you insert an audio file into your post for download, an embedded player will automatically be created.
I didn’t have time (the screencasts cut out at 5 min) to show how the sermon tag works. Just try clicking on the ‘sermon’ tag which should show up just under the post title after you create your sermon post. That will bring you to a auto-generated page displaying all posts tagged ‘sermon’. It’s handy: you then can create a link to that ‘page’ (e.g. www.yourwebsite.com/tag/sermon) and have an automatic sermon page.
Quick and easy web-based image editing with picnik.com
Picnik is a fantastic way to quickly and easily perform basic editing on a digital photo. Check out the tutorial below to see how easy it is—be sure to click on the full-screen button next to ‘screenr’ in the bottom right of the movie box. And no, apparently I do not know how to spell ‘heroes’…
Sidebar tutorials
I just posted two new tutorials about sidebars on the Tutorials page. They explain the different widget options and show what some look like when added.