Configuration Gyrations on WP Mu

So it has taken the better part of two days to get things on the server straightened out.  The original install was quick but flawed and we needed the tech support folks at the hosting service to really understand the problem/s.

By the end of the day today they had gotten it 90% of the way there and then after I was busy tweaking -- some plug-in busted and is causing a minor issue.  I need c-panel access to the server as my only way to do anything is through the WP Mu Admin side -- and both to edit bad *.php files and also to manually upload and troubleshoot some themes and plug-ins.

Went ahead and had to purchase access to MP Mu Dev site for 3 months/$159 which gave me access to several new pay plug-ins one of which we really needed to get the "Blog Network" side of things running. They also offer tech support and advice live and on forums in addition to the plug-ins and templates.

I also went ahead and spent $65 to license the "Grace" template as the starting point of St. A's site.  It is traditional but it seems to fit closest to the aesthetics and the functionality we are looking for in a template.  It should do until we get a real design done by a designer.

So there are 4 unresolved issues in with the Alchemy tech support and hopefully those will be solved ASAP tomorrow so I can get Grace installed and I can get working on getting content and information into and organized on the new site.

Fun with Mu

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Another day, another system

The 8x8 phone system is now partially configured.  All the extensions are up and running and Fr. Williams iPhone has the 8x8 app running on it.  We need to continue to configure the ring groups, auto attendant and then record the VMs.  We need to finish configuring it and record the outgoing announcements then it will be ready.

The office PC continues to be problematic that yes it is "newer" but it really is bottom of the barrel in terms of spec and especially since it is running Vista -- it seems dog slow.  Turning all the bells off -- it has been running better until I tried to install Outlook 2007.  It continues to "fail install" but Outlook is there and working but VERY slow to load.  However being very slow to start makes it frustrating as Judy's normal method has been to open / close email vs. leave it running for the day.

To fix, I need the install disc for the version of Office currently installed so we can uninstall and I ran reinstall without Outlook 200X and then install Outlook 2007 again fresh -- hopefully that fixes the problem.

We really need at least a second PC in the office so that Judy or the volunteer or even the Rector if he does not have his Mac can connect.

I spent a few minutes tooling around with Wordpress Mu to now understand you do not make changes to the root blog - deactivate or delete.  Also had issues that some setting in my Chrome browser is keeping me from being able to log in properly -- it just reloads the sign-in page.  Firefox works ok but need to get to the bottom of this one.

Things are rolling

Last Friday the install of the new Internet Connection went in.  Friday afternoon and again on Saturday installed and cabled (temporarily cabled) up the new VOIP phone system and to move the router out of Fr. Williams room to put it near the copier.

Friday night and Saturday day I spent organizing and converting us over to hosted Exchange that came with the service and getting the details to Fr. Williams on configuring his iPhone and webmail.

Sunday tested out uStream on the network from Trinity including both broadcast and broadcast/record.
Yesterday I got the order in for the new phone system and configuration is scheduled for Wed @ 10AM + Got new dedicated server to run WordPress Mu selected and Alchemy has just completed the setup of the server.  I also sent all the information across to a potential graphic designer to get the Easter Campaign going as well as broader discussion on St. A's for work at a later date.  Also had further discussions with Fellowship One -- it would seem to be the best vendor for our needs for now to replace ACS need to walk Fr. Williams through what that means.

Today looking into Moodle and LMS again.  Wordpress and Fellowship One work.  Follow up with Graphic Designer and Sign/Banner issues.  Look at vendor for broadcast VM.

Tomorrow. Setting up the phone system and starting the number porting process with AT&T.

Research on Moodle Alternatives

Here is a April 2009 article on alternatives to Moodle...

http://barrysampson.com/2009/04/open-source-lms-10-alternatives-to-moodle/
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Using_Moodle_book

Moving project management over to Many Moons

As several of these projects move from research and ideation into planning and because I'm juggling so many different balls simultaneous --- moving over to ManyMoon.com to handle task management and next steps for implementation.  Trying to keep this blog going as well because of the existing "tagging" and ability more easily share/track thoughts vs. tasks.

Peter

Usability Consulting

Another area that doing a more massive web project can get us is a shared usability / user experience consultant to really help us identify and resolve key issues and develop "standards" to really make the experience the best possible.

Themes under review & Layout thoughts & Plugins

http://www.studiopress.com/demo/church.html <-Mix of more of the right things and happens to be a "church" theme.

http://templatic.com/demo/grace/ <- another church theme that has some merits very "traditional" but with high tech touches.

Next two are similar to above with some slight variation:
http://www.studiopress.com/demo/executive.html
http://www.studiopress.com/demo/corporate.html

http://demo.rockettheme.com/wordpress/?theme=nexus

http://templatic.com/demo/academy/ <- Possibly OKish but pretty barebones

http://templatic.com/demo/reinvent/ <- A little too mellow

http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=the-station <-simple lacks search and other items in CSS

http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=optimize

http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=cushy - Not bad navigation and custom graphics, coloring is wrong for us, like the Welcome To X on the main menu bar

http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=flash-news - I like the concept here some of the graphics would need to be altered i.e. chuck schwab style text bubbles.

http://www.wpzoom.com/yamidoo/demo/ <- Fairly good look & feel some behaviors / styling need help

http://demo.rockettheme.com/wordpress/wp_affinity/ - OK but slow draw on dropdown

http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=mainstream# - Attractive, simple, clear

http://www.themescloset.com/demo/monograph/ - liked overall clearn/cleanness but did not like the button on/over/in subnav behaviors.  That needs work.  Interesting design idea to have all sharing in far column going vertically.

THINGS TO INCORPORATE / CONSIDER:

• http://ithemes.com/purchase/architect/ <- Not in love with the theme perse but user selctable use case "I am new here" etc.
• http://realestatethemes.com/irealestate/?page_id=26 <-Not the theme perse but the tab selectable box on the right side column could be used for quick above the fold navigation for basic info or RSS feed type info.
• Big Box and smaller box area ads that are graphical but HTML 5/CSS non-flash -- need to make sure they are compatible with the visually impaired + linkable to page/article/post with video that could be embedded.
• Gravitar of Episcopal Shield
• Pagination for longer articles built into the template engine
• BIG Follow Me type links in the header: http://wpzoom.com/magnet/demo/
• EASY to find Search/always there every page.
• Calendar -- this site has a nifty looking one ( http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=antisocial )
• Clear design - like the color selected difference in the tab that we want someone to go to -- i.e. buy or in our case Contact Me/Us  ( http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=featurepitch )
• Like categorized news feeds listed in the site navigation to help do a quick "sort" of what is there.
• Like how there is a graphic to show subnav level 1 & level 2 different but similar  ( http://templatic.com/demo/productfolio/ )
• Must have BREADCUMBS!!!
• Need to have testemonials and pictures in sidebar
• Member profiles for visitor section

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• State change/connection for the top level navigation is important to connect with the subnavs -- does not have to be custom/slow graphics preferably CSS styling for faster load times/responsiveness.
• Want to make sure whatever theme that the CSS is setup for maximum SEO i.e. content block high up, etc.
• Social site links in the top area of the page to easily share entire page / link
• Special widgets like: Recent Comments, recent posts and Popular Articles, etc.

FUNCTIONALITY / PLUGIN:

• This might be an excellent feature to consider including the PAID level for our non-RSS folks to get emails on the site as things are added: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/subscribe2/
• Do  we want/need a P2 style theme (auto updating / etc.)    http://p2theme.wordpress.com/
• LiveTwit might be an interesting functionality for non-St.A's sites but those aggregating content for the diocese / denomination.

Setback on the WordPress front

Our free account with Dreamhost does not support running WP mu the multi-user / multi-blog variety that would most help us be able to share our work with others.  So in the mean time ed is removing mu from dreamhost and is installing the standard single blog WP for St. A's so we can get the ball rolling.  I will be speaking further with the Diocese on some of these issues.  We may still want to setup mu and run it ourselves but need to find a good virtual private server / private server deal/provider.

Peter

iPhone Theme for WP

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/

Buddy Press

Need to check out Buddy Press functionality for WordPress allows online community plugin.

Fan Box - Facebook Developer Wiki

Want to see what/how a Facebook FanBox would look/work on the new St. A's site.

Having some troubles -- looks like server side code + some scripting inserted right after the "body" tag are needed.

Fan Box - Facebook Developer Wiki

http://www.facebook.com/facebook-widgets/fanbox.php

Accessibility for Visually Impaired in Word Press

There is some excellent but sometimes dated information on helping make your WordPress site more accessible to the visually impaired, physically impaired and those using screen readers.  Having the information in a Database and one that allows multiple templates should definitely go a long way to making things easier.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Accessibility

WordPress Optimization � WordPress Codex

WordPress Optimization � WordPress Codex

Now the WP is installed we need to begin to look into making page load times speedier. Right now time lag to load the first page seems too much. Since we are making significant changes -- we may need to hold off on some optimizations but put them on the schedule to do once the layout of the site/graphics have stopped changing so much.

Peter

WordPress Mu Installed!

Ed has installed Wordpress Mu the Multi-User / Multi-blog version on our DeamHost server/account.  Will be moving forward with more WordPress work next week after completing the updating of the member information into ACS.

There is a long list of Plug-ins to install and configure ontop of issues of themes -- plus all the content and how to best organize it.  Decision points and tons of cut and paste work will be coming soon.

Email This Page/Event/Post/Sermon/Blog Entry Feature

Really want to empower web site readers to be able to easily share items on the church web site.  Sociable plug-in may do this -- but want to make sure it is clear to every visitor and attached to all types of content types whenerever possible.  So "Email This"/"Share" page (or event or news item or sermon or blog post, etc.) that triggers a normal users email mailto: function or possibly records the entry into a trackable database.

SkyCMS (Church Templates & Hosting)

http://www.discoversky.com/

From what I can glean from their site -- looks like it could be a white label install of WrodPress Mu with a bunch of plug-ins & templates that churches would want.  If not functionality looks close to that....

They are possibly based on "LightCMS" - http://www.speaklight.com/

Update all of your social networks at once

Ping.fm / Update all of your social networks at once!

Free too!

Plug-in-o-rama

List of the potential WP related plug-ins to possibly install.

WordPress MU <- should we do this version vs. standard?  If we ever want to have separate ministry or member blogs?
http://mu.wordpress.org/


PLUG-INs
========

Breadcrumbs
http://mtekk.weblogs.us/code/breadcrumb-navxt/

Facebook Connect
http://stepstogrowth.blogspot.com/2010/02/facebook-connect-wordpress-plugin.html

Sociable (Social Sharing of blog/pages icons)
http://stepstogrowth.blogspot.com/2010/02/sociable-plug-in-adds-graphic-links-to.html

Branded Link shortener plug-in to work with Sociable plug-in & WP permalink
http://stepstogrowth.blogspot.com/2010/02/wp-sociable-branded-link-shortener.html

Flutter (CMS plug-in to add new content types)
http://stepstogrowth.blogspot.com/2010/02/flutter-wordpress-cms-plugin-adds-new.html

Google Site Map for Searching
http://stepstogrowth.blogspot.com/2010/02/wp-plug-ing-google-site-map-maker.html

Google/Search Engine SEO plug-in for WP
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

Google Calendar / ICS compatible Plug-in Importer
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-ics-importer/

Alternative Calendar/Event System used in LivingOS themes:
http://livingos.com/wp/rs-event-plugin/
( Commentary on why he likes RS Events:
http://livingos.com/2008/05/19/blogging-your-church-with-wordpress-2-calendars-and-events-plugins/  )

Google Analytics Plugin
Wordpress.com stats plug-in (if needed - different enough from standard install) to catch stuff Google does not.

Plogger Press (or another Web Gallery for images solution)
Embed Galleries and have rotating/random images in sidebar widgets/site.
http://livingos.com/wp/plogger-press/

Embed WP functions into a non-WP page so that they can stay inside the template/theme.
http://wpengineer.com/embed-wordpress-functions-outside-wordpress/

Link redirection to migrate old page names/search results to the new names/locations.
http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=webministrythoughts.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Furbangiraffe.com%2Fplugins%2Fredirection%2F

We might want some plug-ins that help with navigation / sidebar / widgets.
http://lesterchan.net/portfolio/programming/php/


Audio/Video & Sermon Podcasts
=========================

I needs some advice/insight into which solution if any we need for embedding multimedia easily in pages and news items/blog posts.  Separately or inclusive for how we are handling Sermons and having a Podcast RSS feed.  There seem to be a lot of options - but its tough to sort through vs. know what comes included by default now with a 2.x install.

Sermon / audio Plugin Multiple Options
http://stepstogrowth.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-potential-audiomp3sermon-wp.html

Another set of links on Audio/Plug-in /Sermon Plug-in
http://stepstogrowth.blogspot.com/2010/02/sermon-podcast-related-services-tools.html

Even more links that cover Audio/Sermon as well as suggested Church related Plug-ins for WP
http://stepstogrowth.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-resource-links-on-churches.html

Another Alternative:
http://www.ministrypool.com/resources/sermons/diy-podcasting-on-wordpress.html

Podpress:
http://www.mightyseek.com/podpress

Sermon Browser:
http://www.4-14.org.uk/wordpress-plugins/sermon-browser




Themes:
http://webdevshare.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/elegant-themes-collections/
http://themes.livingos.com/

More on themes & tools/frameworks to develop

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/27/wordpress-theme-development-frameworks/

Advice on color design/picking:
http://www.creativepro.com/article/how-choose-colors-everyone-likes