South Dakota Synod Tech Tips

Something New to Worry About?

No sooner do we brag up TinyURL (http://tinyurl.com/) and SnipURL (http://www.snipurl.com) as good ways to shorten lengthy URLs (web addresses) than this article appears over the weekend on CNNMoney.com: "Why You Shouldn't Rely On URL Shorteners" by Dan Frommer.

Speaking more toward business users, Frommer asserts that URL shortening services "should not become a critical part of your company's infrastructure.

"Why not? Because there's no guaranteeing they're going to work. Most of today's short URL services are run by small, modestly funded startups that could easily shut them down -- or change the way they work. Both have recently happened."

Frommer is referring to a service called tr.im, which was discontinued this past weekend by its owner, The Nambu Network. As Frommer points out, that means that any tr.im URLs on the web will no longer work. Ouch!

For most of us, who are more likely to use a TinyURL or SnipURL address in an e-mail or website announcement, the effect would be far less severe if one of those services should disappear. But it's work keeping an eye on any shortened URLs we may be using -- especially in a semi-permanent way, such as a website's Links page, for instance -- in case the need arises to go in and re-edit them to their original long versions.

You may read Dan Frommer's article here: http://tinyurl.com/l76xtu. (If you're already nervous about disappearing short links, here's the "real" address: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/siliconalley/start_ups/why_you_shouldnt_rely_on_url_shorteners_2009_8.html.)

Request from a Congregation

Shirley Floden (sfloden@knology.net), a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Mud Butte, sent us e-mail because she had trouble getting this blog's comments feature to accept her e-mail address (something for yours truly to troubleshoot). She has this request:

Our congregation is more interested in an interactive web site, congregation to congregation/congregation to members home/member or pastor's home to congregation. Somewhat similar to the state's school teaching sites. However we understand their studio type setups are probably prohibitive in cost for small congregations or home use, and also probably higher tech. than we want. If there are congregations that are using this type technology we would be interested in hearing from them. In the meantime we will probably be looking into experimenting with ordinary web cams or something similar that would be less expensive and lower tech. We could also use tips/info in what is already being done in this area too.

Glad the synod is providing this type service, as it has lots of potential.

Shirley Floden sfloden@knology.net  & Doug Jerde % Jess & Mary Lee Marty hereford@sdplains.com

Immanuel Lutheran Zeona, SD

If anyone has some advice for Shirley, please e-mail her. Or you can try the Comments feature, which ought to work!

It's Good to Have Choices!

Here's an interesting service I've just learned about: AlternativeTo. When you're contemplating a software purchase, you may visit AlternativeTo and find, well, alternatives to the product you're considering. A search on Adobe Photoshop, for instance, produced 15 alternatives, several of them free. AlternativeTo provides a brief description, an indication of which platform or platforms the alternatives run under (Winows, Mac, Linux, etc.), and a link to the product or online application. In addition, the alternatives are rated by AlternativeTo users, so you have some idea in advance of how useful, or usable, the alternative might be.

If you're thinking of investing significant dollars in a software product, you might first want to visit AlternativeTo and see if there's a good (i.e., cheap) alternative.

The Long and the Short of It

While sorting through the various synod inboxes this morning (quite an undertaking, after being out of the office for two days for our staff retreat), I was reminded of a problem that comes up quite often. In our LutherLink account, someone had posted the URL (Uniform Resource Locator--the web address) to a page on the ELCA website, but the link got "broken" and readers were unable to follow it. That happens a lot with long URL's, and the ELCA has some VERY long ones! Here's what it was supposed to be:

http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements-in-Process/JTF-Human-Sexuality/Resources/Reports.aspx

but text-wrapping--either LutherLink's or the sender's e-mail program's--displayed it like this:

http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements-in-P
rocess/JTF-Human-Sexuality/Resources/Reports.aspx

You see the problem: The long URL "broke" onto two lines, which a web browser can't read. It dropped the second line, which worked about as well as dialing only the first four digits of someone's phone number!

There are several ways around this problem, but here are two--one an old favorite, and another a new favorite.

The old favorite is TinyURL (http://tinyurl.com/). It's free, it's fast, and it works like a charm. You simply copy the long URL, go to TinyURL, paste it into the box, and presto! you have a short URL that links directly to the original page. Using the URL from above, TinyURL changes

http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements-in-Process/JTF-Human-Sexuality/Resources/Reports.aspx

into

http://tinyurl.com/nfpoc7

reducing 121 characters to a mere 25. You may then paste the TinyURL into e-mail, websites, etc., and it will take your readers directly to the original page. I have used it extensively and never had a problem. (Indeed, I have begun to notice TinyURL addresses appearing in e-mail from ELCA offices!)

A similar service is provided by SnipURL (http://www.snipurl.com), which I have only recently discovered and so haven't used as much. It functions pretty much the same as TinyURL, paring

http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements-in-Process/JTF-Human-Sexuality/Resources/Reports.aspx

down to

http://snipurl.com/ke2bn

The main difference between TinyURL and SnipURL is that the latter allows you to create an account where you can keep track of your "snips," as they call them, and it also provides some customizing features that TinyURL doesn't.

Neither of these tools will help you fix broken links in e-mail that you receive--it's the good old copy-and-paste to put them back together, when that happens--but they can help immensely with long URLs that you send out in e-mail, put on your website, or post to blogs or discussion groups. I encourage you to experiment with both services and see if they can help you keep your URLs a manageable size!

What Your Congregation Needs to Launch a Website

These notes flow from a conversation we had at our synod assembly breakout session, "Technology, the Synod, and You: It's Not Scary. No, Really!" The talk began with some people who felt that their congregations should have an internet presence, but had no idea where to go with that idea. Here are some pointers we developed:

1. Someone who can build it. This person doesn't need to be an expert, or a programmer, or a designer--just someone with some basic skills and the right kind of software to create pages in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language, which tells a web browser that it's looking at a web page). There's lots of such software on the market. Some of it is free. I've been using one called NVU, which is available for Windows and the Macintosh. (Real HTML experts will probably prefer to use an HTML editor and just type in the codes needed to make the pages. More power to 'em!)

Tip: Web Design is, increasingly, being taught in high schools. You may well be able to find one or two young people in your congregation who may be willing, able, and even eager to put that learning to work!

2. Someone who can maintain it. Ideally, this will be the same person who built the site, but it doesn't have to be. You'll need someone willing to make the commitment to handle whatever updates to the website are necessary. Early on, your site probably will be fairly simple and require few and infrequent updates. But as you grow into it, you may wish to include frequent calendar updates, news items, etc. You'll need someone--or maybe a couple of someones--willing to keep the site current and useful.

 

3. Someplace to put the site. Once you have the pages, pictures, etc., that make up your site, you'll need to put it someplace where people can access it. That's typically called the "host," and the computer on which the host stores websites is the "server." There are many, many options for hosting websites. I often encourage congregations who are just beginning to go online to look at Lutherans Online (http://www.lutheransonline.com/home/). This is a free service of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Lutherans Online provides a full set of tools to help you create, update, and host a website. Take a look at the SDSU Lutheran Center site (http://www.lutheransonline.com/servlet/lo_ProcServ/dbpage=framed_frameset&GID=01031013600972501199629474&PG=20071934641052000801111555) for a good example.

The person who creates/maintains your website will upload (copy) the files from his or her computer to the host's server. Each hosting service has a slightly different way (or ways) of doing that, but they're always pretty simple and straightforward.

 

4. A domain name for your site. This is the part that comes after "http://www." in the website address; for instance, "southdakotasynod.org" is the domain for the synod website. The domain name, when registered, will appear in the directories of domain names all over the internet, so that when someone types "http://www.southdakotasynod.org" into their web browser, they'll be taken to the right place. (For that reason we've also registered "southdakotasynod.com"; "sdsynod.org"; and "sdsynod.com".) Your domain name must be unique; when you visit one of the many sites through which you may register a domain name, you'll be taken through steps to ensure that you're not conflicting with another name already registered. There is an annual fee to register and keep a domain name, usually no more than $10 or $20 a year.

But before we look at that, we have to ask if you in fact "need" a domain name. If you plan to host your website on a free service such as Lutherans Online (or Yahoo's Geocities, or any of several other free services), you may not "need" a domain name. Lutherans Online gives you the option of using your own domain name, if you like, or simply going with a Lutherans Online address (something like "http://www.lutheransonline.com/servlet/lo_ProcServ/dbpage=framed_frameset&GID=01031013600972501199629474&PG=20071934641052000801111555"...not the most elegant thing in the world, but it costs nothing!)

 

Note: If you are NOT using a free host such as Lutherans Online, you absolutely will need to register a domain name.

 

Here at the synod office, we registered our names via GoDaddy.com (http://www.godaddy.com/). It was inexpensive, and the process was very simple. As mentioned above, their website includes tools for helping you find a domain name that's not already in use. I recommend you come to GoDaddy.com with two or three possible names in mind, and start your search with them.

 

GoDaddy.com also offers fee-based hosting, if you decide not to go with Lutherans Online or another free service. We did not use this service, since we host the synod website via the marketing firm we hired to put it together for us, but I see that GoDaddy.com has hosting plans that range from about $5 a month to $15 a month, depending on your needs.

Remember, you can always call on us at the synod office if you have any questions or need help. (The services mentioned above have good online help and tech support, by the way.)

Something New from the Synod Office!

As part of the recently concluded synod assembly, Kevin Stillson, Coordinator of Evangelical Mission, and I conducted a breakout session, "Technology, the Synod, and You: It's Not Scary. No, Really!"

 

We had a good time, and engaged in some pretty stimulating conversation with the folks attending, who ran the gamut from extremely tech-savvy to absolute beginners. In fact, a few of the people there had signed up specifically because they were interested in helping get their congregations online but had no idea how to proceed.

So we shared a few ideas on that score, which in turn prompted me to put into action an idea I've had knocking around for some little time now--a tech-oriented forum in which we can ask questions, share ideas, and help each other out with technology-related matters.

And so...welcome to South Dakota Synod Tech Tips, the second of this synod's blogs. (The other one is the synod news blog, cleverly named the South Dakota Synod News Blog, http://www.sdsblog.com.)

It's my hope that as this blog gets up and running, folks from across this synod (and beyond--who knows?) will feel encouraged to participate via the "comments" link, asking questions, sharing ideas, giving advice. We'd love to have a real forum get underway here!

To kick things off, I'll be putting up a post in a couple of minutes here, distilling some of what we discussed in our breakout session in re getting up and running with a congregational website. Feel free to chime in!

Bill Reynolds
Communications Director
South Dakota Synod, ELCA
www.southdakotasynod.org