St. James' Website New Content/Improvements
10/16/2011 (C) - New photos of the parish hall main hall and rental areas in the undercroft added (rental.shtml), after upgrades to the spaces, replacing old photos which did not show the improvements. (WWJ)
05/15/2011 (S) - Modified the forms stylesheet to take advantage of some capabilities in the CSS3 specification: The "Submit" and "Clear Form" buttons have been styled to have rounded corners and a box shadow. These standard features are not properly rendered in Internet Explorer (IE), but they are displayed as intended in Mozilla (FireFox) and Gecko-based browsers (Safari and Chrome), as well as in Opera. IE users will simply see buttons with square corners and no box shadow (i.e., no change from before). (WWJ)
05/11/2011 (I) - Replaced the old Email Sign-up Request form (in stjames_email_signup.shtml) with a newly-designed form on a new page (email_signup.shtml). The new form uses CSS for styling and passes its information to a new PERL script that translates the data into an email and sends it to the special email account that was created for this purpose on the church office email system. As with the information request form that was replaced on 4/11/2011 (see the implementation change immediately below), this new path eliminates the routing to an insecure script that Bob Graf had on his own server space (regraf.com), and to his own email account which required manual screening to filter out auto-generated inputs created by bots, and other bogus inputs. Also, the new form also incorporates the same reCAPTCHA challenge for improved security to ensure that the form, when received, was filled out by a human. At this point, there are no longer any forms on the site that use code resident on regraf.com. (WWJ)
04/11/2011 (I) - Replaced the old Information Request form (on info.shtml) with a newly-designed form on a new page (info_request.shtml). The new form, which uses CSS fot styling, passes its information to a new PERL script that translates the data into an email and sends it to a new special email account that was created for this purpose on the church office email system. This path eliminates the routing to an insecure script that Bob Graf (the former webmaster) had on his own server space, and to his own email account which required manual screening to filter out auto-generated inputs created by bots, and other bogus inputs. For improved security, the new form presents a visual challenge to distinguish humans from computers, called a CAPTCHA. (The acronym stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.") The particular CAPTCHA solution employed on the form is reCAPTCHA, which presents two words -- one known and one unknown -- so that the user's input for the unknown one helps digitize books. At the user's option, the CAPTCHA challenge can also be presented as an audio challenge, so that it can be used by the visually-impaired. A new entry, "Request Info", was placed in the "About Us" section of the left-hand menu for access to the new form. (WWJ)
03/16/2011 (C) - Added a new menu item called 'Ministry Contacts' in the 'About Us' group in the left-hand menu. This item links to a new page (ministry_contacts.shtml) which presents a pdf document listing the organizational structure of our ministry programs and contact information for each. The pdf is presented in an inline frame (<iframe>) so that the standard menu can be displayed next to it, just as with most other pages on the website. This implementation is exactly the same as that set up for the weekly announcements on 07/06/2010 and still in use. (WWJ)
02/04/2011 (C) - Added a photo album of pictures from our January celebration of Elton Smith's ministry as Associate Rector at St. James'. This is a rather big album, containing 71 pictures on five web pages. (WWJ)
01/30/2011 (C) - Continuing clean-up of old un-used files on the server, created a new photo album from pictures and unused .htm files found about redecoration of the parish hall by St. James' volunteers over the weekend of January 31 - February 2, 2003. This is an extensive album, with 129 pictures reclaimed from lost status and arranged on nine new web pages. The file cleanup process is still not complete, so there will be more to come. (WWJ)
01/26/2011 (C) - Continuing clean-up of old un-used files on the server, created three new photo albums from pictures and unused .htm files found. The three are:
- Red Door Festival, September 26, 2004
- Tote Bag Blessing, October 2007
- Spring Outdoor Workday, April 2003
Also found a sermon by Cindy ("Redefinition of Greatness") from September 24, 2000 and added it to the Sermons page. This process is still not complete, so there will be more to come. (WWJ)
01/24/2011 (C) - Continuing clean-up of old un-used files on the server, created a new photo album from pictures and unused .htm files found about St. James' volunteers participating in the Rebuilding Together (formerly Christmas in April) program on April 26, 2003. The new album is listed on the Photo Albums page as Rebuilding Together 2003. It is an extensive album, with 70 pictures reclaimed from cyber oblivion and arranged in six new web pages. The file cleanup process is still not complete, so there will be more to come. (WWJ)
01/23/2011 (C) - Continued clean-up of old un-used files on the server. Created a new photo album from pictures and unused .htm files found about St. James' volunteers helping to renovate a house in the Rebuilding Together (formerly Christmas in April) program on April 27, 2002. The new album is listed on the Photo Albums page as Rebuilding Together 2002. It is an extensive album, with 125 pictures reclaimed from cyber oblivion and arranged in eleven new web pages. The file cleanup process is still not complete, so there will be more to come. (WWJ)
01/21/2011 (C) - Added a photo album for the Epiphany 2011 service and parish dinner. (WWJ)
01/17/2011 (R) - Re-vamped the Prison Aftercare Ministry section, combining two pages that had a large overlap in content (aftercareflyer.shtml and prisonaftercare.shtml) . The resulting combined page is prison_aftercare.shtml. Also converted the video order form to PDF format (prison_aftercare_video_order_form.pdf) for easier downloading and use by the end user, and deleted the old .htm order form (prisonvideo-form.htm). Converted a page devoted to a Washington Post article about the ministry (prison_post_30304.htm) to shtml form (prison_aftercare_wash_post_article.shtml) and put a link to it in the combined Prison Aftercare Ministry page; previously, there was no link to it anywhere and it was not visible on the website. (WWJ)
01/17/2011 (C) - Continued clean-up of old un-used files on the server. Created two new photo albums from pictures and/or unused .htm files found. The two are:
- Children Making Bread for Maundy Thursday service, 2005
- Parking Lot Dedication, October 2004
This process is still not complete, so there will be more to come. (WWJ)
11/05/2010 (C) - Began a clean-up of old un-used files on the server. Created seven new photo albums from pictures and/or unused .htm files found. The seven are:
- Easter Flowers 2002
- Easter Flowers 2003
- Easter Flowers 2004
- John Miers' Reflections on New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
- John and Mary Miers' presentation on their hurricane relief trip to New Orleans
- John Miers' Receipt of the Path of Achievement Award, and
- Pentecost 2010 with the flying doves
This process is not yet complete, so there may be more to come. (WWJ)
11/05/2010 (S/I) - Completed re-implementation of all 42 photo albums listed on the Photo Albums page (photoalbums.shtml). Goals of the re-implementation were to (1) move all photos used in the albums from a common "images" folder at the root level to a "pic" folder associated with each album (to support the longer-range goal of being able to tell which image files are used where), and (2) put the standard header and menu on every album page. As a result of goal (2), every album page was converted from a .htm file to a .shtml file. This effort has been going on in the background for weeks and was completed on 11/05. (WWJ)
11/05/2010 (C) - The Lay Opportunities (layopps.htm) page is mostly redundant and points to old versions of ministry pages that are no longer maintained. Reviewed the Lay Opportunities page to ensure that all ministry areas listed therein were better accessed from other areas of the website. The only area that was not already covered somewhere else was Kingdom Kids. Moved the Kingdom Kids content to the Sunday School page (sunday_school.shtml) and deleted kingdom_kids.htm and layopps.htm from the site. (WWJ)
11/05/2010 (C) - Re-vamped the Other Ministries page (program1.shtml) to be a list of ministries in the areas of Fellowship, Pastoral Care, and Service. (WWJ)
11/04/2010 (S/I) - While updating some information related to the Child Transfer Center, created a new page (potomac_child_transfer_ctr.shtml) for the Center to replace the old one (Child_Rts_StJames.htm). It is now converted to an shtml page, so that it has the standard website header and menu on it like most of the other pages. (WWJ)
10/31/2010 (C) - Re-vamped the Parish Hall Rental page (rental.shtml) to cover all rented facilities, include dimensions of the undercroft areas and a better description of them, and put captions on all pictures. (WWJ)
10/26/2010 (C) - Placed the 2011 pledge form and worksheet on the site, with links in the scrolling marquee. New Stewardship page will be added later. (WWJ)
10/25/2010 (C) - On the Parish Hall Rental page (rental.shtml), added dimensions of the main hall and the library. (WWJ)
10/22/2010 (C) - Added the newly-updated 2010 St. James' A to Z booklet in pdf format in an inline frame on a new page (programs_a_to_z.shtml). This way, the booklet bears the standard website header and menu. Also, added a button for it in the menu; the menu button says "Programs A to Z" and it's just under the "Other Ministries" button. On the Welcome page (welcome.shtml), deleted the link to the old A to Z, which was an html implementation.(WWJ)
10/15/2010 (C) - Content on the Missions/Outreach page (outreach.shtml) updated, inapplicable content deleted, and broken links fixed. (WWJ)
10/15/2010 (C) - Several minor content improvements were made to the Other Ministries page (program1.shtml). (WWJ)
10/11/2010 (C) - A new page (rummage/rummage_sale_pics.shtml) has been added that has pictures of previous rummage sales so people can get an idea of the scale of the St. James' Rummage Sale. It is a link from the Rummage Sale page (rummage/rummage.shtml). Also, all pictures on the rummage sale pages have been moved to a "pics" directory under the "rummage" folder (rummage/pics) for easier future maintenance. (WWJ)
10/09/2010 (S/I) - Re-vamped the table layout on the Sermons page (sermons.shtml), narrowing the three right-most columns so the table fits on a 1024x768 screen without horizontal scrolling. Also gave the table a colored background and an attractive border. (WWJ)
09/30/2010 (C) - On the Directions page (where.shtml), added directions to the church by means of public transportation. Prior to this addition, we only had directions by private vehicle. (WWJ)
09/29/2010 (S/I) - Scrubbed the Staff and Vestry page (staff.shtml) to ensure that all the staff pictures are stored in the same place, and that none of the staff titles are fully justified, but the biographical text is fully justified, and all entries are coded the same way for easier maintenance in the future. (WWJ)
09/25/2010 (C) - Welcome page (welcome.shtml) scrubbed to remove all references to the old Sunday morning schedule, remove unnecessary links and optimize the html code. (WWJ)
09/25/2010 (C) - New Rummage Sale page (rummage/rummage.shtml) built to contain the Fall rummage sale information. Since the rummage sale is a regularly-recurring event twice a year and is such a major community service event, the new page is re-useable from one sale to the next and has a presence in the standard menu. It has only one place to put the dates of the set-up day, the sale, and the clean-up day (at the top of the page), thereby reducing the possibility of having conflicting dates on the site. The menu button can be hidden easily with a simple change in the standard menu file for those times between sales when there is nothing to communicate. The new page replaces three or four old ones that were hard to find, and it contains the standard header and menu, which the old ones did not have. In the near future, another page (or pages) will be added that has pictures of previous sales so people can get an idea of the scale of this sale. (WWJ)
09/22/2010 (S/I) - Re-vamped the page that had pictures of the church buildings on it to invoke the standard menu via SSI Includes. (Hence, old name for the page, buildings.htm, is now buildings.shtml.) This means the standard menu now appears on the left side of the page, and the standard header now appears at its top. Also replaced the table structure of the page with paragraph (<p>) tags and added captions underneath all pictures. In the new layout, the pictures are centered on the screen for a more appealing look. Access to the page is still via the 'More photos of the buildings and grounds' link on the Directions page (where.shtml). (WWJ)
09/20/2010 (C) - Changed the picture of the church building on the front page (index.shtml) and the 'Directions' page (where.shtml) to a new picture taken 9/19/2010. This was because the old picture included the church sign, which had the old service times on it. (WWJ)
09/12/2010 (C) - Added The Rev. Prince Williams, Assisting Priest, and Jerome Childress, Sunday Sexton, to the Staff and Vestry page (staff.shtml). (WWJ)
09/11/2010 (C) - Added five procedural guides for people serving in our worship services (Lector Instructions, LEM Instructions, Prayers of the People Instructions, Crucifer-Torch Procedures, and Acolyte Manual) to the Serving Our Worship section. (WWJ)
08/18/2010 (C) - In preparation for the new fall service schedule, removed from the Music Program page (music.shtml) all references to the 10:30 service. Also removed old pictures of the various choirs. (They were from 2007.) (WWJ)
08/18/2010 (S/I) - Added a script on the front page (index.shtml) that detects the user's screen size and adjusts the width of the picture of the church building accordingly, so that the side panel on the right side of the screen does not get squished too thin on a 1024x768 screen. (WWJ)
08/16/2010 (S/I) - The combined Google Calendar resident on a one-page Google Site that was introduced 07/14/2010 has had the annoying habit of displaying event times in Pacific Time, even though the events are entered on the contributing Google calendars in Eastern Time. Research on the Google Forum indicates this is a bug in Google software. To get around this, the combined Google Calendar was moved to a regular (non-Google Site) webpage, where it seems to work as desired (displaying in Eastern Time). Use of a non-Google Site webpage allowed us to have the calendar on a standard St. James website page (calendar.shtml) that includes the standard header and menu just like any other page on our site. The category of US Holidays was also added. (WWJ)
07/24/2010 (S/I) - The front page (index.shtml) has been re-designed to reduce clutter. The new layout uses a right-floated division (<div>) to create a side panel that appears on the right side of the screen regardless of the user's screen width. This side panel contains our mission statement, our service schedule, and the link to the Amazon gift card purchase program. Also, the layout uses another new <div> to create a footer which contains links to the national Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (EDOW), the EDOW profile which was written for the search for a new bishop, and a link for email to the webmaster. As the site modernization evolves, the footer division will become part of every page. (WWJ)
07/14/2010 (S/I) - The Calendar option on the menu now points to a one-page Google Site that presents in one combined calendar six Google calendars maintained by the church staff. The calendars are Parish, Community, Rentals, Music, Youth, and School. The Google implementation replaces the Calcium web calendar application from Brown Bear Software (http://www.brownbearsw.com/calcium/), which we've been using since August 2004. (WWJ)
07/06/2010 (S/I) - Re-worked the Weekly Announcements page (weekly_announcements.shtml) so that it now displays a pdf image of the announcements page from the Sunday service bulletin (with private phone numbers and email addresses removed, as usual). The pdf is presented in an inline frame (<iframe>) so that the standard menu can be displayed next to it, just as with most other pages on the website. The pdf format is used in order to visually re-inforce the distinction that the content is from the Sunday bulletin. (WWJ)
05/29/2010 (S/I) - The .gif image of the Episcopal shield at the top of the standard header has been replaced by a nicer image that looks somewhat three-dimensional, and the St. James' cross-and-three-shells logo (in color) has been added. (WWJ)
04/29/2010 (R) - Content relocation: Content of the Worship Schedule page (schedule.shtml) moved to a box on the home (front) page (index.shtml) and the "Worship Schedule" entry in the menu deleted. (WWJ)
03/04/2010 (C) - Title attributes added to four of the menu entries in the Updates category to help the reader understand what our publications are. The four entries are "Announcements", "News & Notes", "Email Sign-Up", and "Pilgrim". Now when the mouse cursor hovers over those menu entries, the browser displays the explanatory text in a small pop-up window. (WWJ)
01/06/2010 (C) - Site Map selection removed from the menu, because the page it linked to (parish_administration.htm) only contained links to other pages already in the menu. I am exploring proper site map generator tools with the aim of creating a more complete site map. (WWJ)
01/04/2010 (C) - Adult Education session topics updated for Jan - Feb (adultforums.shtml). (WWJ)
01/04/2010 (C) - New vestry members' names updated on Staff and Vestry page (staff.shtml). (WWJ)
01/04/2010 (C) - Created this "What's New" page (whatsnew.shtml) to serve two purposes: (1) allow readers to see what content changes have occurred since they last looked, and (2) allow website maintainer to keep track of when changes were made in case a site restore is necessary. (WWJ)
01/01/2010 (S/I) - Sermons page (sermons.shtml) revamped to present a more consistent list of available sermons. Added columns for availability of text file, name of preacher, title of sermon. Corrected some mis-labelling. Discovered some sermon files are missing. (WWJ)
12/30/2009 (S/I) - Altered front page (index.shtml) to allow text to wrap around the current picture of the altar and around the Amazon.com gift cards logo. This fills wasted white space and makes the page look more professional. (WWJ)
12/29/2009 (C) - Paragraph added to the Sunday School page (sunday_school.shtml) about the middle and high school ages receiving Christian education through the youth group. Menu buttons re-arranged to place "Adult Education" and "Sunday School" together as elements of the Christian Education program. If a dynamic (drop-down or pop-out) menu is implemented in the future, we should put a single Christian Education entry at level 1 and then have Sunday School and Adult Education as siblings at level 2 below it. (An item for future development.) (WWJ)
12/29/2009 (S) - On the staff listing (staff.shtml), cleaned up the spacing irregularities and made the text next to each picture fully justified so the write-ups look neater. (WWJ)
12/29/2009 (C) - Created a favorites icon (favicon2.ico) for St. James' using the cross and three shells logo (in color) and installed it on all the pages of the website that are called directly from the menu (all pages that use the standard header and menu). A favorites icon (often called a "favicon" for short) -- also known as a website icon, shortcut icon, url icon, or bookmark icon -- is a tiny image (16 x 16 pixels) associated with a particular website or webpage. Browsers that provide favicon support typically display a page's favicon in the browser's address bar and next to the page's name in a list of bookmarks. Browsers that use a tabbed document interface typically show a page's favicon next to the page's title on the tab. Support varies amongst browsers that are currently popular: Testing reveals that IE8, Firefox 3.5.6 for Windows, Safari 3.2.2 for Windows, Google Chrome 3.0 for Windows and Firefox 2.0.0.22pre for Ubuntu Unix display the favicon, while IE6 and IE7 do not display it. IE6 and IE7 display a miniature IE symbol instead of the favicon provided by our website. (WWJ)
12/29/2009 (C) - "Administration" menu button removed, because the page it linked to (parish_administration.htm) only contained links to other pages already in the menu. (WWJ)
12/29/2009 (I) - "Home" button added to the standard left-side menu to get back to the main "index.shtml" page (now needed because other pages have the menu, too). (WWJ)
12/28/2009 (I) - Left-side menu on front page adopted as standard menu and placed on all pages called from the menu, utilizing SSI Includes. It is included as part of the standard header file (standard_header_with_menu.txt). (WWJ)
12/27/2009 (C) - Email signup page (stjames_email.htm) elevated to top level and link to it placed in the left-side menu in the "Updates" group. (Page renamed stjames_email_signup.shtml). (WWJ)
12/27/2009 (S/I) - Photoalbums page revamped (changed from a table to an ordered list with more consistent titles and data annotation); became the first page (other than the main index page) to invoke the standard menu via SSI Includes. (Hence, now called photoalbums.shtml.) (WWJ)
12/23/2009 (C) - Help Wanted "Odd Jobs" appeal added to the Help Wanted page (job_bank.htm) as well as to current News and Notes and current Weekly Announcements. (WWJ)
12/15/2009 (C) - New order form for Prison Aftercare Ministry Videos & Guidebooks posted. The Prison Aftercare Ministry now offers its training videos on DVD and no longer offers VHS tapes. (WWJ)
12/14/2009 (C) - Added a new photo album page for the December 13th celebration of the Rector's ten years of ministry at St. James'. (Click on 'Photo Albums' in the left-hand menu, then click on the top entry that comes up.)
The album contains photos, the Prayers of the People that were written for the service, a poem by Ann Pararas, song lyrics written by Krista Koziol, and a congratulatory letter from Bishop Chane.
12/09/2009 (S) - Appearance of the scrolling marquee in the standard page header tweaked (by adding the blue line around the gray bar) to match the appearance of the cells in the menu. (WWJ)
12/03/2009 (C) - Parish Mission Statement added to the front page (index.shtml). (WWJ)
12/02/2009 (C) - New content category: The weekly News and Notes parish-wide email now has an attachment that lists projected special events and services for about the next year, for use by parish leaders for long-range planning purposes. This Schedule of Services and Special Events has been added to the website (Schedule_of_Services_and_Special_Events.pdf), and is a regular link from the weekly News and Notes. (WWJ)
12/02/2009 (I) - Standard page header implementation extended to include the Stewardship and MDG pages. (WWJ)
11/24/2009 (I) - With the front page (index.html) having been migrated to index.shtml, a redirect has been placed on the old index.html page to automatically forward readers to the new .shtml page so readers do not have to change their favorites/bookmarks. The redirect is set to happen within one second, but depending on the reader's internet connection speed, traffic volume at the time, and whatever else may be going on in his computer, the old page may actually be displayed somewhat longer on the screen before the new one comes up. (WWJ)
11/22/2009 (S/I) - Front page, Announcements, Serving Our Worship, and Planned Giving pages now have a new standard header that contains the church address, phone number, and other contact info at the top, and a scrolling marquee for news headlines. Content in the marquee can include links to other pages on the site, and the scrolling pauses when the reader mouses over the marquee. As time permits, this new header will be placed on all pages on the site. This standard header is implemented with Server-Side Includes (SSI), and so these pages now have the .shtml extension. (WWJ)
11/19/2009 (I) - Server-Side Includes (SSI) implemented in order to allow for multiple re-use of standard code throughout the website. Pages calling (making use of) standard code will have .shtml extension. (WWJ)
11/06/2009 (S/I) - Left-side menu on front page re-vamped. Old version had a table with .gif images in each cell, and the images did not change when moused over. New version uses CSS stylesheet and the "hover" pseudo-class to change color of the cell when moused over. Also, cell content is straight text -- no longer a gif. New version gives reader feedback that the button he wants is selected, and makes maintenance easier, since gifs no longer have to be created with correct color and font style/size to match the others. (WWJ)
11/06/2009 (C) - New stewardship packet posted with the usual link to it from the left-hand menu. There are also links to the pledge planning worksheet and the pledge form in the headlines area at the top of the front page, and links to the pledge form in the News and Notes and the Weekly Announcements. The background color of the StJames_LayoutFINAL.pdf document has been matched on the main stewardship .htm page (accessed from the Stewardship menu button in the left-hand menu). (WWJ)
11/06/2009 (S) - New .gif image of the Episcopal Church shield placed at top of the front page and all pages called from the front-page menu. The new image is properly transparent around the outside of the shield, yet has non-transparent white inside the shield. (The value of this transparency can be seen on the Stewardship page, which has a non-white background.) The new shield image has more vibrant colors (esp. the blue) and is not truncated on the left like the old one was. As more pages are found at lower levels in the site structure on which it would be appropriate to place this image, that will be done. (WWJ)
11/04/2009 (I) - Unnecessary fixed-width nature of the front page (index.html) eliminated. Prior to this change, the page was defined to be 1022 pixels wide (regardless of content), and required horizontal scrolling on a smaller screen, such as many netbooks and small laptops have, where monitor resolution might be set to something less than 1024x768. After this change, the page contracts or expands to fill the width of the screen, and horizontal scrolling becomes necessary only where the content includes pictures or other elements that have a fixed width that is wider than what is available. (WWJ)
10/13/2009 (C) - Flower schedule posted on the flowerguild.htm page. (WWJ)
