CONTENTS
IN BRIEF
A Web Site is a location in "cyberspace" which contains pages of information. This can be viewed by anyone in the world who has access to the Web.
Anyone who wants to advertise anything can benefit from having a Web Site. As a Church we should have as much information as possible on the Web. Priorities should be Divisions, Unions, and Conferences, though in practice Web pages spring up wherever a capable individual takes the initiative.
You can set up your own Web Site by following these steps:
IN DEPTH
The Internet is a vast interconnected system of computers that extends around the globe. Initially used for scientific purposes it has now grown and has room for everyone. Although you can in theory connect your own computer directly into the Internet most people opt for using commercial computers dedicated to that purpose. These computers and the people who operate them, are known as Internet Providers. In recent years a protocol for displaying graphical and textual information has developed on the Internet. This is known as the World Wide Web, or Web for short. Collections of information on the Web are know as Web Sites and are written in a language known as Hyper-Text Mark-up Language, or HTML for short. Web Site information is stored on the hard disks of Internet Providers and can be accessed remotely by anyone in the world who has the following:
The computer programs used to view Web Sites are known as Internet or Web browsers, and a number of different ones are available free from a variety of sources. At present the two main contenders in the field are Netscape Navigator, and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
In the last couple of years interest in the Internet in general, and the World Wide Web in particular, has grown exponentially. Virtually all major organisations advertise on the Web and even if no one visits their sites it is still as important to have a Web address printed on company stationary and printed adverts.
As a Church we tend to lag behind commercial organisations when it comes to PR and advertising, mainly due to financial restraints. However, Web Sites are cheap to set up and run, and even voluntary organisations can compete with the best commercial enterprises. It is therefore important that we put as much effort as possible into their development.
As with general PR work there is a role for each level of the Church to play in the use of Web Sites. Ideally it would make sense for all Divisions, Unions, Conferences and individual churches to have their own Web Sites, each providing information relevant to their own area of influence. Each site would link to higher or lower sites forming a "tree" of information with little or no duplication. The reality of the situation is that Web Sites are being created in an almost anarchic manner, dependent only on the interest shown by certain technologically minded individuals. While this reflects the situation in the Web generally, we should eventually be moving towards a more efficient structure.
3. How can I set up a Web Site?
Web Site construction has become much easier as the medium has evolved. There are a number of tools to help you through the various stages of development, and Internet Providers are more aware of the needs of amateur users. Key stages of development are as follows:
Sign up with an Internet Provider who gives Web space as well as e-mail. There are a number of international and national companies that can sell you the service you need to set up a Web Site. Choosing the best one depends on a number of factors, but you should at least consider the following:
Size of company - will it still be operating in a year's time?
Access - can you dial in using a cheap phone connection?
Performance - ask other people if they get good connections when accessing sites on the server from abroad
Web space allocated - one megabyte may be enough for a local church but it won't be enough for a Conference or Union
E-mail capabilities - can you use the same service to set up e-mail for yourself or everyone in the office?
Domain name registration - can the Provider register a specific name for you (such as www.adventist.org.uk) or do you have to use the generic Provider name (for example www.balasdachurch.fsnet.co.uk/)?
Decide what information to display. This will depend on where you sit in the information tree. A local church page will not need to give the names and telephone numbers of the Conference or Mission officers if that information already exists on a page set up at the office. Typically local church pages will give a map of how to get to the church, service times, contact telephone numbers, and a bit of background information specific to the local church. It must include links to its parent organisation and can also include links to other sites according to the preferences of the local congregation. Conference or Mission Web Sites should list all their daughter churches, along with addresses, service times and at least one contact telephone number for each church. They should provide links to any local church which operates a Web Site, and links to the parent and possibly grandparent organisation. These sites should also contain details of departments, office personnel, the history of Adventism within their territory, and some doctrinal information. As a rule, any Adventist site should provide enough links to enable the reader to get to any of the major Adventist sites within about three steps.
Once you have decided on your structure you can type this information into your computer as a series of pages. This can be done using any word processor that is capable of saving the page as an ASCII text file.
These pages now need to be converted to conform to the HTML standard. Some of the latest word-processors will do this automatically, but it is not difficult (just tedious) to do it manually. You can buy small handbooks on HTML or you can just see how other people have done it by selecting "View Source" when you are browsing pages using your Web browser. If you don't know where to start Netscape has some help on hand: How to Create a Web Page.
Your HTML manual will tell you how to put in internal and external links. These are vital and are the key to the operation of the Web. Make sure that each page has a link back to your index (front) page.
Publishing your pages is the process of getting what you have typed on to your Internet Provider's computer. This "uploading" is achieved using File Transfer Protocol, or FTP. All Internet Providers who can give you Web space will also be able to tell you how to upload your pages. They will give you the FTP software required which you then install on your own computer, and follow the uploading instructions.
Finally you need to make sure that other people can find your Web Site. Most people will probably find it by clicking on a link from another site, but you can improve accessibility by indexing your page on the major "search engines". Search engines are special Web Sites which allow you to find other sites by typing in key words or phrases. Some of the main ones are Lycos, Web Crawler, AltaVista, Yahoo, and Info Seek. When you visit these sites you will see a button labelled "Add URL". The URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, is simply another name for your Web Site's address. In most cases you just need to click the button and type in your Web Site address, though some search engines will ask you for a few details about the Site.