Getting Started on Your Webpage

This page covers the basic steps you'll need to do to get started on your Synod-hosted website:

System Requirements
Establishing a Domain Name
Registering on the Synod Website
Picking a Look for your Website
Adding Data to your Website

System Requirements

To get started, there are 2 things you will need:

1. A Web Browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox work great)
2. Access to the web (Dialup or Highspeed Internet Access)

If your church or presbytery owns a computer, you more than likely already have a web browser and internet access.

Establishing a Domain Name

Once you have these basics down, you will need to find a domain name for your web page. We suggest obtaining a domain name with “.org” at the end, since this is most common for ministries and non-profit organizations. A domain name will cost between $15 and $35 a year. Make the name as short and easy to remember as possible (i.e., www.mychurch.org).

There are two places you can register that we can help support you: Network Solutions or GoDaddy.

Network Solutions: www.networksolutions.com.
You can sign up for a domain name with Network Solutions either online at www.networksolutions.com or by phone [look up phone number]. Either way, inform them that you want User ID: 17556006 to be your technical contact. This allows our Web hosting technician, Brandon Jelenik to assist in setting up your account and web site.

GoDaddy: www.godaddy.com
Godaddy (www.godaddy.com ) will not allow you to assign someone to just handle the Domain Name System (DNS) for you the way Network Solutions does. Please go to the Total DNS Control Panel and make your DNS settings look like this:

Note: If you are using our Exchange email server, enter the same "Points to" destination for your email as for your @ address: 198.29.2.17.

If you registered with Network solutions, we can do this for you, but Network solutions costs twice as much. The only way we can do it for you in GoDaddy is if you send us your user id and password. If you would like the Synod technician to handle this for you, email brandon@jelpro.com and let him know your domain name and which system you registered under. He will then set up your DNS with the proper settings.

Registering on the Synod Website

Once you have registered a domain name and have a DNS provider, email brandon@jelpro.com and he will tell you the IP address of our server. Then do the following:

1.      Log in to the Synod website (upper left corner). If you do not have an account, click Register to create a new account. Once you are logged in, a form will appear on the left part of the screen.

2.      Fill out the form on the left. Title your Web site the name of your Domain.  Please fill in all the data accurately. If you do not need email accounts, simply leave that field blank.

3.      Once we double check your ministry, we will build the Home page of your website for you. The address of your page will be www.yourdomainname.synodnw.org. For instance, Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church’s domain name is www.whitpres.synodnw.org. This is a temporary address that you will use while you develop your web site. Once your site is ready to “go live,” we will drop the “synodnw” from the address: www.whitpres.org then is the permanent address for Whitworth Presbyterian.

4.      You will then receive an email that your development site has been created and be provided with a log in name and password for the administrator of the site.

Picking a Look for your Website

Now is the time to pick a look for the web site, which is called a “skin”. A skin is like a template or a design layout/color scheme for all the pages on your site. There are a lot of free skins to choose from, or you can purchase a skin for $20-100. You can also pay a web developer to create a custom skin. Brandon Jelenik can do this for you or there are others that Presbyteries have used to customize their sites that are quite good.

1. A good place to start is to see what other churches in our Synod are doing. CLICK HERE to see a list of churches and presbytery’s already on our system. If you find a site you like but would just like it modified so it is unique to you. Contact Brandon@jelpro.com and he will help you get the skin and modify it.
2. If you don't like the look of any of the other sites. Go to www.snowcovered.com. There you can buy skins for $20 - $100. You can also pay the company that makes the skin to modify it for you to really give it a custom look. The cost of such customization should be about $200. (If they try to charge you more, talk to us first!)
3. If a free skin is what you are looking for, You can find skins on the internet by using a search site like Google and search on FREE DNN SKIN or DNN SKINS. We can also use any skins from www.alldnnskins.com .  We have a cooperate license to use any of thier skins.  Some of the more common DNN skin providers are:

http://www.dnnskins.com/

http://www.thinkofdesign.com

www.snowcovered.com

http://dotnetnukeskin.com/

http://www.2designstudio.net/

Most skins are made with Adobe Photoshop, and if you can find someone in your church with Photoshop skills, they can assist you with graphics. Having someone else that is familiar with aspx pages and CSS is also beneficial in developing your web page.

Skins can be frustrating. Especially since they are one of the first steps. Don't let frustration get to you. Call us and we will help point you in the right direction.

Adding Data to Your Website

Once you have a skin on the page and it looks good, it is time to add data! A good place to start is to watch our training videos. Start with the Administration ones. We recommend watching in this order:

• Add New Pages
• Page Settings
• Text/HTML (module)
• Orizonti Nuke News
• Events
• Documents

Next, you will want to decide on the Menus and structure of your site. For example

1. Home
2. Calendar
3. Worship Services
4. Youth Programs
   1.  High School
   2. Middle School
5. Childrens Programs
   1. Sunday School
   2. Midweek
6. About Us
   1. What we Believe
   2. Location
   3. Staff
1. Add pages for all the pages you want. Make sure to make "About Us" the parent page of "What we Believe" that way "What we Believe" will be under the About Us Menu button.
2. Add modules to panes on the pages. By default the Text/HTML module as already been placed in the content pane on your page.
3. If you copy and paste text from Microsoft word. Make sure to press clean MS word button and reformat the text using the web system
4. If you want a picture on the page. Make sure to size the picture to the small size before you upload it to the server.