This came across our computer screens late last week and chances are that with over 13 million views (1.5 million of those coming within 24 hours), there's a good chance that many of you have seen this video. But in case you haven't, and even if you have, we thought we'd post it for your enjoyment!
Happy Casual Friday - and so you know, we're closed on Monday for the Canadian Civic holiday.
AdvancedMinistry users can now organize their home page using simple drag-and-drop technology. To begin, login to your account and navigate past the introduction screen. Then click on “Manage My Home Page Features”.
(Technical Note for those people that were having problems repositioning homepage elements along with navigational elements: No longer are your home page features tied to the same ordering system as your navigational items; they are now completely separate!)
Also, for those users that were waiting for IE8 compatibility updates on the Narrow Road template, that is now complete. All of our templates are now IE8 compatible.
One of the common questions that we hear from ministries when creating a website is, “What browsers should we develop for”? It seems like a new browser / browser version is being released every week, creating nightmares for developers looking to bring some consistency to their programming world.
According to w3schools (a very reputable site), Internet Explorer dominated the landscape until 2005 when Firefox started making a splash. The following chart shows the history of the last six and a half years:
As an end-user it’s great to see all of the options that are now available to us, but as a company creating websites, it definitely makes things difficult. For example, the difference between Internet Explorer version 6 and version 8 are literally night and day. However, as of last month, 15% of users use IE6, 19% of users like IE7, and 7% of users have made the switch to IE8. Which begs the question, “At what point do you stop supporting older browsers like IE6?” Furthermore, how do you predict what browser versions are going to be compatible with your site in the future? When IE8 came out, it was incompatible with over 2,400 major sites (including CNN, Facebook and YouTube). So how do you predict this stuff?
The simple answer is – you don’t. You just go with the times and are literally at the mercy of these companies that are developing browsers and technologies at an unheard-of rate. The best thing you can do is stay up-to-date with the current web standards and hope for the best. When the next version of a browser comes out, test out your site, determine the incompatibilities (if any), and set a roadmap to make the necessary upgrades.
At Electricurrent and AdvancedMinistry, we make a point to watch out for the latest updates and inform our customers accordingly. To help you in the process of determining which browsers you should support, let us share with you our list to help you get started.
Standard browsers that we WILL currently test on:
Firefox 3.x for Windows
Firefox 3.x for Apple
Firefox 4.x for Windows (Beta)
Firefox 4.x for Apple (Beta)
Microsoft IE 7.x for Windows
Microsoft IE 8.x for Windows
Google Chrome 1.x for Windows (auto-updates, not forced)
Safari 3.x for Apple
Safari 3.x for Windows (above 3.2)
Safari 4.x for Apple (Beta)
Safari 4.x for Windows (Beta)
Legacy browsers / other browsers that we CAN test on (if the client requires it):
Firefox 2.x for Windows
Firefox 2.x for Apple
Microsoft IE 6.x for Windows
Opera (any version for any platform)
Google Chrome 2.x for Windows (auto-updates, not forced) – Note: Chrome is a WebKit browser just like Safari. As such, if it works in Safari, most everything should work in Chrome also.
Safari 2.x for Apple (this version was only for Apple)
Mobile Devices (Blackberry and iPhone only)
Browsers that we WILL NOT support:
Microsoft IE (any version) for Apple
Microsoft IE 2.x, 3.x, 4.x, 5.x for any OS
Netscape (any version for any OS)
That should give you enough to get started when developing a “browser testing plan” for your ministry. But remember, this list will probably need to change by the time you’re done reading this blog, because at the end of the day, companies never stop developing new technology (nor should they). The browser wars have only begun.
Oh look, Firefox just announced plans for it’s next version: Read Article
Today I'm offering a general tip that might help a lot of people.
If you own a cell phone or smart phone that runs on the GSM network, you will undoubtedly have experienced what I like to refer to as "THE BUZZ". It is an absolutely maddening buzz that the phone generates in speakers when it is transmitting data near them. The problem is quite easily fixed on computer speakers and such by simply clamping what's called a snap choke core on the wire leading to your speaker. But in the case of your car, applying such a device to the speaker wires isn't feasible.
Enter this suggestion that I found today on the web (we don't normally like to link off to other sites for our videos because we can't control what's around the video or introduces it, this is too good not to risk - so please bear with us - if there is an intro and you don't want to see it, there is a skip link at the bottom of the video):
We are pleased to announce two new Xpiritmental desktop wallpapers entitled, Where 2 or 3 Are Gathered and The Veil, inspired by Matthew 18:20 and Mark 15:38. Download the new desktops below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.
Xpiritmental No. 45 Where 2 or 3 Are Gathered Matthew 18:20
AdvancedMinistry is pleased to announce the addition of two new features to the event management system.
The first feature has been on the “to-do” list for quite some time now – you can now add recurring events to your website. For example, if you ran a youth program every Tuesday, no longer do you have to enter in an event for every single week. Just add it once and choose the option to make it recurring “weekly” – it’s that easy!
The second feature is one you may have already noticed. You now have the ability to toggle between a calendar and event text listings on your homepage. To modify these options (including calendar colors), visit this help desk article. In some of our templates we have automatically set the calendar to show on your homepage, but you can easily turn it off if you don’t want it.
More features will continue to be added in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
We are pleased to announce a new Xpiritmental desktop wallpaper entitled, The Architect, inspired by Genesis 1:1. Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.
Thinking about using Facebook or Twitter for your ministry? Here's a really interesting read that Craig sent to me this morning about how people are sharing information these days.
I read in a marketing magazine yesterday that in 1965, you could reach 80% of adults with three showings of a TV commercial.
Numbers like that don’t really exist anymore because audience’s attentions are split between print, hundreds of television channels, wireless devices and home computers.
The net result of that distraction is that any company or organization that’s trying to get their message out there better have a compelling product, service or story that draws people in. Without a good story, you’ll be lost in the din of voices out there.
But it can’t just be a good story either…it has to be a good story that’s also very well told. Are you telling your story in a compelling way? If so, we'd love to hear about it.
Today, we’re very pleased to formally announce the brand new AdvancedMinistry website which launched on Saturday night.
The goal for this site is to clearly communicate what AdvancedMinistry is to someone who is looking at it for the first time. To achieve that goal, we worked hard to simplify the content of the home page so that a lot of useful content could be easily accessed without having a page that is busy and pulls your eye all over the place. We’ve given great prominence to the primary messaging via the home page banner which speaks about how established AdvancedMinistry is and some highlighted features.
A big thanks to all our customers past and current! We look forward to continuing to grow the platform and to serve you as you fulfill God’s calling in your ministry.
Check out our third installment of Xpiritmental backgrounds this week entitled, My Heart Burns, inspired by Jeremiah 20:9. Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.
If you as a ministry or non-profit are thinking about starting a blog or a Twitter account, the very first thing you need to ask yourself is: Why? What is your hope in starting to use social media? If you’re doing it simply because the big Churches, ministries and non-profits are doing it and guys like me are telling you that you should – then don’t.
I say this because if you don’t truly understand the power of social media and don’t value it yourself, you’ll never commit to it and the worst thing that you could do is to start a blog and then abandon it. I saw an example of that today. A Church had a blog on their site which has one post - from months ago.
They don’t get it - and as a result, they would have been better off sticking to what they are passionate about. That doesn’t change the fact that they should get it – in 2009, they should. But if you, like many other churches out there know that you don’t get it and won’t commit to it – then walk away…or better yet, learn enough to understand the power of these new tools and get passionate about it. Then you’ll not only be starting for the right reasons, you’ll be committed because of them too.
A couple weeks ago I ran into someone I hadn’t talked to very much in quite a number of years. As he and I were chatting I found out that he’s started a local interior design firm with an environmentally-conscious bent – the firm is called Redesign. During that conversation he handed me his business card which, when I first saw it seemed like a good-old, regular business card. But as I took hold of it I realized that it actually folded out into a cube, was made of recycled paper and had design on both the inside and the outside of the cube.
A week-and-a-half later, that card is still standing on my desk. Why? Well, for starters, the card can actually stand… :) In all seriousness though, the reason this card is still on my desk is because it's consistent with their brand and truly remarkable.
It’s a very well designed print piece and it’s different than all other business cards I’ve ever received. I’m also impressed that the quality of the design of their business card matches the images of the work I see on their website. Finally, knowing that they are an environmentally-conscious company, I love to see that their cards are made of 100% recycled material.
So the question that I’m left asking myself and now you all is: what are we doing to be consistently remarkable – both individually and organizationally?
For those readers of this blog who are Christians or belong to Christian-based non-profits, we believe that we have the most consistent and remarkable story in the world. Do our communications reflect that consistency and remark-ability?
About a year or two ago there was a pretty funny commercial on television that had a local backyard Barbeque going on. The catch was that there was this guy wandering around and inserting himself awkwardly into games and conversations at the party that no one knew. Everybody was asking each other if they knew him – no one did.
I write this post today with a certain amount of disappointment as I couldn’t find the video outlined above (I think it might have been a Johnsonville Brats commercial). Nevertheless, I hope that the overview I gave above sets enough of a groundwork for my point and if any of you readers out there know what video I’m talking about and can find it, then let me know and I’ll update this post.
Anyways, the point in bringing that video up is to give a picture of what it’s like when someone joins an online community like Twitter, a blog or a message board and immediately begins touting their organization, product or service.
Imagine yourself sitting in your backyard on a sunny Saturday afternoon and noting that your neighbor is holding a backyard BBQ with all their friends. So you, being the strong advocate of your ministry or non-profit, walk over, stand in the middle of the group and shout out the URL to your website. Ridiculous, right?
And yet, this seems to be a tendency that so many people gravitate towards online. They have their organizations mission at the top of their mind and they jump into these communities without having any relationship whatsoever with them. This doesn’t work in real social contexts like a backyard BBQ and it won’t work online.
So what I’m saying is, don’t get into social media and online communities looking for a quick fix – create a relationship first, contribute value to the group and then, when the time is right, introduce your organization. It takes time and it takes effort but all relationships do.
The difference is that at the end of the day, you won’t just have an audience; you’ll have a group of friends and advocates – a much more powerful entity.
Well, it's not often that we get to post two Xpiritmental wallpapers in one day, but today we get the pleasure of doing so! Check out our latest Xpiritmental desktop wallpaper entitled, A Slain Heart, inspired by Job 13:15. Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.
Electricurrent is pleased to announce a new Xpiritmental desktop wallpaper entitled, Caught Up Together, inspired by 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.
Xpiritmental No. 40 Caught Up Together 1 Thessalonians 4:17
We are pleased to announce the addition of 27 new PowerPoint backgrounds for AdvnacedMinistry users. To download them, login to your account and click on Download Materials, PowerPoint Slides.
I caught this video on Monday and it's been taking off virally over the past week - some of you may have seen it already but for those of you that haven't...Enjoy!
I’m sure there’s lots of ways to answer this question but the idea that I want to key in on today is the fact that your website is not all that different from your physical office or church building.
Even though many in ministry circles still think of the Internet as a new-fangled contraption that doesn’t result in a whole lot of value for anyone, the reality is quite different. Websites should be in your mind, just as foundational to your organization as your bricks-and-mortar location. It is the face of your organization online and it can facilitate many valuable congregational interactions that could be really engaging and inviting for a viewer/visitor hitting your site.
So the questions that this leaves me asking are:
Do you only have old bulletins with outdated event info on them to hand out to Sunday service attendees?
Does your organization have a rickety door that’s so old and broken down that it’s nearly impossible to enter the building?
Does the sign on the front lawn of your church list an old pastor’s name or neglect to mention the service times?
Is it painfully evident from the state of your office building that you just don’t really care?
I’d hope that the answers to the questions above would be a resounding no. Assuming that’s the case, then the subsequent set of questions that needs to be asked is:
Why does your website have outdated event information on it?
Why is your site so old that it’s no longer compliant with major browsers allowing visitors to easily navigate through?
Why are there pictures of staff and members that are months or years out of date?
How is it that in the year 2009, you do not have a website that reflects your heart to do all things to the best of your ability for the sake of the Kingdom?
Don’t get me wrong, God will work in people’s lives often in spite of our best efforts – but that does not remove from us the responsibility to do our best in all that we do – especially with something as bricks-and-mortar as your website.
Yesterday, I noticed that a friend of mine had a link in his Facebook feed to a poll. The poll was asking users their opinion on which book cover, out of 5 options, was best-suited to the book that he has written.
Given that we do a bunch of print work around here and having being interested in my friend's project, I took part in the poll. After I voted, I was taken to a results page that indicated my first choice was in fact, first in the results as well. Sadly there were no prizes for guessing the leading cover...
In all seriousness though, at that point I recall thinking to myself that although this was a good and valuable process to go through, if this was the only feedback being generated, it could end up being very misleading (opinion based on subjective preference without any qualification doesn't necessarily translate into the design meeting the goals of the project).
Then today, I noticed that he had been posting the individual covers on his Facebook page and people were commenting - which is great to see - now he had a chance to qualify the numbers he was seeing in the poll. But as I read through the comments and left one of my own, I was reminded of something that I see a lot of online. So often, I see people commenting on a blog post, podcast episode or poll like this one with simple comments like: "Awesome!" And I'm sure that the heart behind these kinds of comments is good, and as a result, they are appreciated. But when someone posts something like my friend has with his book cover, what they really need is for people to take the time to explain why they feel the way they feel. That will then help them know whether (and how) your thoughts are applicable to what they are trying to achieve with the project.
If you're heart is truly there to help and encourage the author/blogger/podcaster, then definitely go ahead and tell them that what they've done is awesome. But at the same time, as much as is possible, also be willing to qualify that for them so they can really use your opinion to help them on the way.
And if you’re part of an organization that is looking to have a website developed by a third-party firm and you hear them say that the site will be done in a month or two…run away…fast.
In our break-neck paced society, one of the things that we’ve started to lose sight of is the amount of time it takes to accomplish our work. Instead we look for efficiencies and short-cuts. We “lol” our way through “laughing out loud” and in our minds we tell the microwave to hurry and somewhere along the way we’ve lost the value of sitting down and thinking about what it is that we’re doing.
In terms of a website, this tends to lead to a website that either doesn’t meet your needs or is such an inflated beast that you run into extra costs and time that you simply don’t have – ironically ending up with a later delivery date than had you stopped and planned at the beginning.
A good web partner will help you take the time to think about and discuss internally what it is that you are trying to accomplish with the site. They’ll help you cross the “t’s” and dot the “i’s”.
So don’t go running headlong into the project with expectations of timelines and costs…stop for a minute and think about what it is that you’re trying to accomplish. Be sure that you get a clear picture of the process that your design/development partner will go through. Does the process include documentation that will help ensure that the partner builds exactly what you want? This is a fundamental aspect of ensuring that your requests have been properly understood (communications are a two-way street). Does the process involve you? If it does, frankly, it will take a lot longer than a month – that, I can guarantee.
Having focused your attention on our Canada Day celebrations a couple days ago it only seems appropriate to use today's Casual Friday to highlight the 4th of July celebrations happening for our friends in the U.S. today.
I just did a bit of reading about Independence Day on Wikipedia and stumbled onto this quote from John Adams, second President of the United States of America, in a letter to his wife Abigail:
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
According to Wikipedia, "Adams' prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress."
Nevertheless, Adams' note carries with it an interesting challenge for American Christians when he said that Independence Day should be commemorated as a "day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty." May that indeed be the case because we know from Colossians 1:16 that "...by [God] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.
So, on behalf of the whole team here, Happy Independence Day to all of our American friends! And as we sing in our Canadian national anthem, may God keep your land glorious and free as well!
There are lots of reasons why we feel that quality communications are worth our time and effort. If you’ve been following along with us for a while, you’ll likely know that we have either explicitly or implicitly touched on some of those reasons in past posts.
But the one I wanted to hone in on today actually comes from my reading of Genesis chapter 11 last night. If that reference doesn’t sound familiar already, Genesis 11 contains the well known account of the tower of Babel.
Verses 4-7 (ESV) read as follows:
Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech."
I was especially caught up with the thought that after outlining that the people building the tower were one people and of one language, God concludes: “nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them”. Think about that for a minute...”nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them”…all because they were united in purpose and communication.
And I think that’s the lesson for us even today. The only difference being that our intentions need to be God-honoring. By building on a foundation of God-honoring intentions, and with His blessing, we can then use clear communications to achieve great things for God’s Kingdom.
If you’ve tried to call our offices today, you might have found a complete lack of response. That’s in no small part due to the fact that today is Canada Day and we are all off enjoying a day to ourselves, our families and our friends, celebrating the blessing we have of being able to live in a country that provides us with all the freedom and opportunities that we enjoy here.
Have no fear though, we will be back at the helm tomorrow morning. Until then…
O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
Xpiritmental is a resource. It's a place to learn and to share thoughts on marketing, ministry, design, service, the Web, culture and more. We'll start the conversation, but we're looking forward to hearing what you've got to say.
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Today, we’re very pleased to formally announce the brand new 
A couple weeks ago I ran into someone I hadn’t talked to very much in quite a number of years. As he and I were chatting I found out that he’s started a local interior design firm with an environmentally-conscious bent – the firm is called 
What is a website?
Having focused your attention on our Canada Day celebrations a couple days ago it only seems appropriate to use today's Casual Friday to highlight the 4th of July celebrations happening for our friends in the U.S. today.
There are lots of reasons why we feel that quality communications are worth our time and effort. If you’ve been following along with us for a while, you’ll likely know that we have either explicitly or implicitly touched on some of those reasons in past posts.
If you’ve tried to call our offices today, you might have found a complete lack of response. That’s in no small part due to the fact that today is Canada Day and we are all off enjoying a day to ourselves, our families and our friends, celebrating the blessing we have of being able to live in a country that provides us with all the freedom and opportunities that we enjoy here.
Contact Us